Cellular anti aging machanism can help beat cancer

The hundredth Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded Monday to three American scientists for discovery of a completely innovative mechanism of cellular aging.

The three biologists received the award for their work showing "how the telomeres and the enzyme telomerase protect chromosomes from aging," said the Nobel committee.

These discoveries made in the first part of 1980 now open perspectives in the fight against cancer and aging. "When we started this research, we had no idea that telomerase is involved in cancer, we were just curious to know how the chromosomes remained intact," said Carol Greider, distinguished by the Nobel committee alongside his two colleagues biologist Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak.

Telomeres, composed of DNA, located at the ends of chromosomes, have the tendency to shorten over time with each cell division. The day when their size becomes insufficient, the cell is no longer able to multiply and dies.

Telomerase, an enzyme discovered by researchers has an amazing ability to inhibit the shortening of telomeres involved in cell senescence.

In fact, telomerase is expressed only in stem cells (embryonic or not). But it is also reactivated in certain tumors and may play a role in tumor proliferation. It would probably at least partly explain the immortality of certain malignant cells.

At the center of the Nobel Prize, appear two major challenges humanity faces: the fight against cancer and aging. Paradoxically, but the weapons are two opposing mechanisms, in one case inhibition of telomerase in the other one - stimulus.

"One of the potential applications of the research field of telomeres is the fight against cancer, " says Jerome Dejardin (Inserm). Telomerase in certain cancers - but not all - contributes to the malignant proliferation. In vitro studies show that blocking telomerase exhausted the proliferation of cancer cell.

Many pharmaceutical companies are interested in this work. Several clinical trials with cancer patients are ongoing. Even vaccine antitelomerase has been developped and is being tested. The difficulty of such therapy is that its inhibition against cancer cells could lead to accelerated aging of other cells. Unless you develop a purely local treatment.

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