Title:Telomere Recombination and the ALT Pathway: A Therapeutic Perspective for Cancer
Volume: 20
Issue: 41
Author(s): Irena Draskovic and Arturo Londono-Vallejo
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Telomere, recombination, ALT-associated PML body, chromatin, orphan receptors, variant repeats, histone 3.3.
Abstract: Telomeres are essential for cell proliferation and tumor cell immortalization requires the presence of a telomere maintenance
mechanism. Thus, interfering with this mechanism constitutes a potential means to impede cell proliferation and tumor progression.
Many cancer cells rely on telomerase activity to ensure indefinite proliferation capacity and developing therapeutic approaches that target
telomerase has attracted much attention in the last couple of decades. Nevertheless, a non-negligible proportion of tumors utilize telomerase-
independent, alternative mechanisms to lengthen telomeres (ALT). Here we briefly discuss both our current understanding of ALT
mechanisms and the potential to develop a therapeutic approach targeting ALT.
