Could increased cell senescence be avoided during healing process by activating the telomerase gene?

Question

During a healing process, our cells divide to repair a damaged area of our body. Telomere sequences are therefore shortened by this process, reducing the lifespan of the newly created cells.

Theoretically, could this be avoided by enabling the telomerase gene in the cells as they reproduce and then disabled upon successful completion of the process or would it be impossible to disable the gene in such a large amount of cells?

(Obviously the cells would need to be monitored to ensure that any defective cells are removed to avoid cancer developing.)

Answer 1

I think, theoretically, this may be feasible. But remember that the effect of activating the telomerase doesn't apply to all cells. Our body is composed of so many complex tissues and cells. An effect on one cell doesn't necessarily mean the same effect to all other cells.

Yes, I agree that you must first remove any defective cells to avoid cancer development since activation of telomerase makes some cells immortal (that is, if there are cancer cells, it will multiply and live forever making it hard to destroy them). However, detection of defective cells involves a very tedious and complex process and you might end up destroying the good cells.

Besides, our body needs cell senescence. The process of senescence is complex, and may derive from a variety of different mechanisms and exist for a variety of different reasons. Senescence is not universal, and scientific evidence suggests that cellular senescence evolved in certain species as a mechanism to prevent the onset of cancer. In a few simple species, senescence is negligible and cannot be detected. All such species have no "post-mitotic" cells; they reduce the effect of damaging free radicals by cell division and dilution.

These are just my thoughts. Please feel free to correct me if I misunderstood some of the terms.

Answer 2

You said that you would have to cells monitor the cells to ensure that any defective cells are removed to avoid cancer developing

then you would have to remove all your cells!!!

I'll explain:

Telomere shortening is commonly asociated with cell senescence, however it is also a necessary factor for the cells to work well. Some cells in the body have a great telomerase, and they repair themselves very well. however having ALL your cells with the telomerase gene activated would increase the risk for cancer,because their lifetime would de extended and if one single cell becomes defective and starts a cancer, most of actual treatments would fail to stop it,and it would grow and reproduce REALLY fast, because most treatments for cancer try to affect the genome of cancer cells so they will have errors and not be able of reproducing.with telomerase working well, the telomere "shields" would absorb most of the damage to the genome andso the drogs would be less efective.
Also, this is not the key to a longer live,because aging is not only affected by cell senecence but also by genetic factors that are switched on at a determinate age, and still it's not clear how humans age.

Answer 3

I think the cells would need to be pre-engineered with a telomerase regulated by an inducible promoter like TetR. Then you could add tetracycline when you want the telomerase induced and remove it when you want it repressed. Only those cells you'd engineered would respond.