Corey David R
Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9041, USA.
Chem Biol. 2009 Dec 24;16(12):1219-23. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2009.12.001.
Telomeres are the ends of linear chromosomes. They cannot be fully replicated by standard polymerases and are maintained by the ribonucleoprotein telomerase. Telomeres and telomerase stand at a junction of critical processes underlying chromosome integrity, cancer, and aging, and their importance was recognized by the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak, and Carol Greider. Where will the field go now? What are the prospects for antitelomerase agents as drugs? Nearly 30 years after Szostak and Blackburn's pioneering manuscript on telomere ends, the challenges of discovery remain.
端粒是线性染色体的末端。它们无法被标准聚合酶完全复制,而是由核糖核蛋白端粒酶维持。端粒和端粒酶处于染色体完整性、癌症和衰老等关键过程的交汇点,其重要性在2009年授予伊丽莎白·布莱克本、杰克·绍斯塔克和卡罗尔·格雷德的诺贝尔生理学或医学奖中得到了认可。该领域现在将何去何从?抗端粒酶药物作为药物的前景如何?在绍斯塔克和布莱克本关于端粒末端的开创性手稿发表近30年后,发现方面的挑战依然存在。