Aging, it turns out, not only involves much more than telomeres, but telomeres are involved in much more than aging. Telomere chemistry is regulated by an enzyme called telomerase, which switches off the cell when it has reached its preset quota of divisions. In cancerous cells, however, telomerase doesn’t instruct the cells to stop dividing, but rather lets them go on proliferating endlessly. This has raised the possibility that a way to fight cancer would be to target telomerase in the cells. In sum, it’s clear that telomeres are important not just for understanding aging but also for
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