Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres is a method by which telomere length is maintained in 15% of cancers. This happens when telomerases are inactive. How are the telomeres maintained in this method? what is the molecular mechanism involved?
2007-02-04 20:13:50 · 2 answers · asked by Sid 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Cancer cells have to find a way to maintained telomeres, otherwise the tumor will just die out. There's a few methods that are hypothesized... . Scientists are trying to find out if they can use the ALT in the fight against cancer, like some kind of anticancer therapies which prevent ALTs or something
2007-02-08 17:27:31 · answer #1 · answered by kz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It mainly involves the transfer of telomere repeats from one chromosome to another, using recombination between non-sister chromatids. Another mechanism 'inter-telomeric copying' involves SSDNA invasion and use as a template. Most of the genes involved have not been identified
See this paper by Henson et al
http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v21/n4/abs/1205058a.html
2007-02-04 23:33:09 · answer #2 · answered by Pierian 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋