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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Scientists have found that telomerase is a key gene that causes cancer cells to die.

    Scientists have found that telomerase is a key gene that causes cancer cells to die.

    • Last Update: 2020-08-07
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    In the field of cancer, many scientists have devoted their entire research careers to looking for cell similarities in the hope of potentially leading to a single treatment for many cancers - yet a multidimensional question rarely has a single answer.
    1997, scientists discovered a gene they believe is the key cause of cell death.
    telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is a catalytic subunit of telomerase.
    Although cell immortality sounds good, it is actually the way cancerous tumors grow and reproduce in cancer patients.
    In the late 1990s, whether TERT was a cancer-causing gene was an open question.
    scientists have been searching for the mutation that activated it for the next decade, but no one has been able to find the TERT mutation.
    two years ago, two research groups found that TERT had no mutation at all.
    , in contrast, mutations occur in regulatory regions that control gene expression in many cancers, including melanoma, brain cancer, liver cancer and bladder cancer. "That's when I realized that we should invest all the tools and expertise in the lab to understand the mechanisms behind these mutations," said
    director of the BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado.
    our lab, together with partners at the University of Colorado's Anschutz School of Medicine, tracked the effects of mutations ranging from DNA to elevated RNA levels to increased protein levels to increased telomerase levels.
    we illustrated this effect in 23 bladder cancer cell lines by comparing both active and non-mutationous cancer cells.
    "Cech confirmed that these promoter mutations were associated with high levels of mRNA, TERT protein, telomerase activity, and telomere length.
    he published the team's findings in the recent journal Science.
    bladder cancer cell line was obtained at the Anschutz School of Medicine, and The Cech's team and colleagues used these cell lines because their cells work in a variety of different cancers.
    bladder cancer is a big threat in itself.
    The cancer killed more than 15,000 people in 2014 alone, according to the National Institutes of Health, and nearly 75,000 new cases were confirmed in the same year.
    treatment of the cancer is not easy, including combination chemotherapy, bacterial biotherapy, or complete bladder removal.
    the team, in collaboration with two colleges at the University of Colorado, obtained a unique line of bladder cancer cells from the Anschutz School of Medicine.
    Cech Lab also used a method to detect the number of TERT protein molecules in cells and small changes in enzyme activity.
    using these tools, the team used current technical limitations to measure molecular changes in cells.
    computer analysis data further confirms the findings: High-end granase levels can predict whether bladder cancer is fatal or not.
    at some point in the future, doctors may be able to test the activity of telomerase in cancer patients and plan treatment based on the severity of the cancer.
    using the technology, telomerase could become a biomarker for some cancers, and Cech hopes his research will provide medical diagnostic companies with the knowledge they need to develop a test that can be easily used in a doctor's office. "We hope this study will drive pharmaceutical companies to find some telomerase inhibitors to slow cancer and change it into a more treatable form,"
    .
    We're also interested to see if this study applies to other types of cancer, which will create an opportunity to use one drug to affect many different types of cancer," Cech said.
    Source: Decoding Medicine.
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