Dear Colleagues,

The importance of telomeres and telomerase has been acknowledged since Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak won the Nobel prize in physiology in 2009. Telomeres, the end parts of linear chromosomes, together with their cognate proteins, mask the ends of chromosomes from being identified as double strand breaks that otherwise would be repaired by DNA repair mechanisms, thus conferring genomic stability. In addition, they serve as mitotic clocks, as they are getting gradually shorter with each cell division, until they reach a critical length which signals the cells to senesce. When this process is perturbed, the cells continue to divide, and telomeres become dysfunctional, allowing the accumulation of mutations, some of which may be cancerous. If some of these cells upregulate telomerase, telomeres will not be further shortened, and the cancer clone will be perpetuated. Telomerase is the reverse transcriptase that elongates telomeres by synthesizing TTAGGG repeats (in humans) at their ends. It is considered the hallmark of cancer, since it is specific mainly for cancer cells (90% of all types of cancers possess high telomerase activity, but in almost all somatic cells, the enzyme is repressed) and is vital for their endless replicative potential. As such, telomerase is considered a valid and efficient anticancer drug target.

Interestingly, apart from their canonical roles in telomere maintenance, telomerase possess numerous "extra-curricular activities" related to cell proliferation and more.

In addition to the above, due to the dependence of the cell proliferative potential on telomere lengths, the field of telomeres and telomerase is also highly relevant to aging. Therefore, activating telomerase may have to impinge on degenerative diseases related to old age.

In this Special Issue on “Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer and Aging”, we welcome original studies and review articles presenting novel findings at the basic and translational levels of research in this field. Specifically, we are interested in the following issues: 1. the roles of shelterin and other proteins in telomere lengths regulation; 2. telomerase as an anticancer drug target; 3. extracurricular activities of telomerase; and 4. the role of telomerase in various degenerative diseases.

Hopefully, the papers published in this Special Issue will contribute to our understanding of this important and interesting field.       

Dr. Orit Uziel
Guest Editor

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• Telomere
• Shelterin complex
• Telomerase
• Cancer
• Aging
• Extracurricular activities of telomerase