Fraction of tumour cells able to maintain telomer length without telomerase
| Range | 10-15 % |
|---|---|
| Organism | Human Homo sapiens |
| Reference | Jegou T, Chung I, Heuvelman G, Wachsmuth M, Görisch SM, Greulich-Bode KM, Boukamp P, Lichter P, Rippe K. Dynamics of telomeres and promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies in a telomerase-negative human cell line. Mol Biol Cell. 2009 Apr20(7):2070-82PubMed ID19211845 |
| Primary Source | Johnson JE, Broccoli D. Telomere maintenance in sarcomas. Curr Opin Oncol. 2007 Jul19(4):377-82.PubMed ID17545803 |
| Comments | Tumor cells need to compensate the loss of their telomere repeats (which is constitutive and ubiquitous in linear chromosomes) in order to sustain an unlimited proliferative potential. In most cases this is accomplished by reactivating telomerase, a reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomeric repeats at the chromosome ends. However, a fraction of ~10–15% of tumors is able to maintain their telomeres in the absence of telomerase activity. This process has been designated as alternative lengthening of telomeres. |
| Entered by | Uri M |
| ID | 104277 |