Liu Meng-Ying, Nemes Ashley, Zhou Qi-Gang
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy College, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, China.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2018 May 16;11:160. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00160. eCollection 2018.
Telomerase, a specialized ribonucleoprotein enzyme complex, maintains telomere length at the 3' end of chromosomes, and functions importantly in stem cells, cancer and aging. Telomerase exists in neural stem cells (NSCs) and neural progenitor cells (NPCs), at a high level in the developing and adult brains of humans and rodents. Increasing studies have demonstrated that telomerase in NSCs/NPCs plays important roles in cell proliferation, neuronal differentiation, neuronal survival and neuritogenesis. In addition, recent works have shown that telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) can protect newborn neurons from apoptosis and excitotoxicity. However, to date, the link between telomerase and diseases in the central nervous system (CNS) is not well reviewed. Here, we analyze the evidence and summarize the important roles of telomerase in the CNS. Understanding the roles of telomerase in the nervous system is not only important to gain further insight into the process of the neural cell life cycle but would also provide novel therapeutic applications in CNS diseases such as neurodegenerative condition, mood disorders, aging and other ailments.
端粒酶是一种特殊的核糖核蛋白酶复合体，可维持染色体3'端的端粒长度，在干细胞、癌症和衰老过程中发挥重要作用。端粒酶存在于神经干细胞（NSCs）和神经祖细胞（NPCs）中，在人类和啮齿动物的发育中和成年大脑中含量很高。越来越多的研究表明，NSCs/NPCs中的端粒酶在细胞增殖、神经元分化、神经元存活和神经突形成中起重要作用。此外，最近的研究表明，端粒酶逆转录酶（TERT）可以保护新生神经元免受凋亡和兴奋性毒性。然而，迄今为止，端粒酶与中枢神经系统（CNS）疾病之间的联系尚未得到充分综述。在此，我们分析相关证据并总结端粒酶在CNS中的重要作用。了解端粒酶在神经系统中的作用不仅对于进一步深入了解神经细胞生命周期过程很重要，而且还将为CNS疾病（如神经退行性疾病、情绪障碍、衰老和其他疾病）提供新的治疗应用。
