[mage lang=”en|es|fr|en” source=”flickr”]telomerase cells[/mage]
what enzyme is present in cancer cells, which, scientists believe, allows the cancer cells to keep growing ?
morphogen, oxytocin, glucagon, telomerase
Telomerase
In normal cells, the telomeres (segment of DNA at the end of the chromosomes) shorten following each cell division thus limiting the life span of the cell. Due to the nature of the lagging strand after each cell division some DNA is lost, once the telomeres are gone, slowly genes of the chromosome disappear until the point that the cell cannot make proteins that it needs to survive, then the cell dies. This is very important in cell ageing. Most fully differentiated somatic cells do not express the enzyme, however, for some reason cancer cells do, thus allowing them to be immortal and replicate indefinetly
Elizabeth Blackburn Part 3 Stress, Telomeres and Telomerase in Humans