4.7 Article

Telomerase and hallmarks of cancer: An intricate interplay governing cancer cell evolution

Journal

CANCER LETTERS
Volume 578, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2023.216459

Keywords

Telomerase; Hallmarks of cancer; Genome instability; Angiogenesis; Immune evasion inflammation; NF-kB

Categories

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Transformed cells acquire specific characteristics to become malignant. Telomerase, an enzyme complex, plays a significant role in maintaining telomere length. Its main component, TERT, interacts with various signaling molecules and promotes cancer hallmarks such as cell death resistance, sustained proliferation, angiogenesis activation, and metastasis. Understanding the role of telomerase in promoting cancer hallmarks is crucial for understanding the mechanism of cancer development and progression.
Transformed cells must acquire specific characteristics to be malignant. Weinberg and Hanahan characterize these characteristics as cancer hallmarks. Though these features are independently driven, substantial signaling crosstalk in transformed cells efficiently promotes these feature acquisitions. Telomerase is an enzyme complex that maintains telomere length. However, its main component, Telomere reverse transcriptase (TERT), has been found to interact with various signaling molecules like cMYC, NF-kB, BRG1 and cooperate in transcription and metabolic reprogramming, acting as a strong proponent of malignant features such as cell death resistance, sustained proliferation, angiogenesis activation, and metastasis, among others. It allows cells to avoid replicative senescence and achieve endless replicative potential. This review summarizes both the canonical and noncanonical functions of TERT and discusses how they promote cancer hallmarks. Understanding the role of Telomerase in promoting cancer hallmarks provides vital insight into the underlying mechanism of cancer genesis and progression and telomerase intervention as a possible therapeutic target for cancer treatment. More investigation into the precise molecular mechanisms of telomerase-mediated impacts on cancer hallmarks will contribute to developing more focused and customized cancer treatment methods.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available