Abstract
The role of telomerase in actively proliferating cells is assumed to be restricted to maintaining of telomeres above a minimum-length threshold, thereby preventing telomere exhaustion and chromosomal instability. However, forced telomerase expression in cells and mice with normal-length telomeres has shown that telomerase promotes growth and survival in a manner that is uncoupled from net telomere lengthening. These findings imply that telomerase might have a fundamental role in tumour growth and survival, even at stages when telomeres are sufficiently long.
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Acknowledgements
We thank M. Serrano for critical reading of the manuscript. Research at the laboratory of M.A.B. is funded by the MCYT (Ministry of Science and Technology), CAM (Regional Government of Madrid), the European Union and the DIO (Department of Immunology and Oncology). The DIO was founded and is supported by the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and by Pharmacia.
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Blasco, M. Telomerase beyond telomeres. Nat Rev Cancer 2, 627–633 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc862
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc862
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