Department of Biological Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Jan 24;19(2):333. doi: 10.3390/ijms19020333.
Replicative capacity of a cell is strongly correlated with telomere length regulation. Aberrant lengthening or reduction in the length of telomeres can lead to health anomalies, such as cancer or premature aging. Telomerase is a master regulator for maintaining replicative potential in most eukaryotic cells. It does so by controlling telomere length at chromosome ends. Akin to cancer cells, most single-cell eukaryotic pathogens are highly proliferative and require persistent telomerase activity to maintain constant length of telomere and propagation within their host. Although telomerase is key to unlimited cellular proliferation in both cases, not much was known about the role of telomerase in human parasites (malaria, , etc.) until recently. Since telomerase regulation is mediated via its own structural components, interactions with catalytic reverse transcriptase and several factors that can recruit and assemble telomerase to telomeres in a cell cycle-dependent manner, we compare and discuss here recent findings in telomerase biology in cancer, aging and parasitic diseases to give a broader perspective of telomerase function in human diseases.
细胞的复制能力与端粒长度调节密切相关。端粒长度的异常延长或缩短会导致健康异常，如癌症或早衰。端粒酶是大多数真核细胞维持复制潜能的主要调节因子。它通过控制染色体末端的端粒长度来实现这一点。与癌细胞类似，大多数单细胞真核病原体具有高度增殖性，需要持续的端粒酶活性来维持端粒的恒定长度，并在其宿主内繁殖。尽管端粒酶在这两种情况下都是无限细胞增殖的关键，但直到最近，人们才对端粒酶在人类寄生虫（疟疾等）中的作用有更多的了解。由于端粒酶的调节是通过其自身的结构成分介导的，与催化逆转录酶的相互作用以及可以招募和组装端粒酶到细胞周期依赖性方式到端粒的几种因子有关，我们在这里比较和讨论端粒酶生物学在癌症、衰老和寄生虫病中的最新发现，以更广泛地了解端粒酶在人类疾病中的功能。
