Non-canonical roles of canonical telomere binding proteins in cancers

Reactivation of telomerase is a major hallmark observed in 90% of all cancers. Yet paradoxically, enhanced telomerase activity does not correlate with telomere length and cancers often possess short telomeres; suggestive of supplementary non-canonical roles that telomerase might play in the developm...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 2021-05, Vol.78 (9), p.4235-4257
Main Authors: Akincilar, Semih Can, Chan, Claire Hian Tzer, Ng, Qin Feng, Fidan, Kerem, Tergaonkar, Vinay
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cancer
Cell Biology
Clinical trials
Cytotoxicity
Life Sciences
Proteins
Review
Stem cells
Telomerase
Telomeres
Tumorigenesis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Reactivation of telomerase is a major hallmark observed in 90% of all cancers. Yet paradoxically, enhanced telomerase activity does not correlate with telomere length and cancers often possess short telomeres; suggestive of supplementary non-canonical roles that telomerase might play in the development of cancer. Moreover, studies have shown that aberrant expression of shelterin proteins coupled with their release from shortening telomeres can further promote cancer by mechanisms independent of their telomeric role. While targeting telomerase activity appears to be an attractive therapeutic option, this approach has failed in clinical trials due to undesirable cytotoxic effects on stem cells. To circumvent this concern, an alternative strategy could be to target the molecules involved in the non-canonical functions of telomeric proteins. In this review, we will focus on emerging evidence that has demonstrated the non-canonical roles of telomeric proteins and their impact on tumorigenesis. Furthermore, we aim to address current knowledge gaps in telomeric protein functions and propose future research approaches that can be undertaken to achieve this.
ISSN:1420-682X
1420-9071
DOI:10.1007/s00018-021-03783-0