A Review of Telomere Attrition in Cancer and Aging: Current Molecular Insights and Future Therapeutic Approaches.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objectives

As cells divide, telomeres shorten through a phenomenon known as telomere attrition, which leads to unavoidable senescence of cells. Unprotected DNA exponentially increases the odds of mutations, which can evolve into premature aging disorders and tumorigenesis. There has been growing academic and clinical interest in exploring this duality and developing optimal therapeutic strategies to combat telomere attrition in aging and cellular immortality in cancer. The purpose of this review is to provide an updated overview of telomere biology and therapeutic tactics to address aging and cancer.

Methods

We used the Rayyan platform to review the PubMed database and examined the ClinicalTrial.gov registry to gain insight into clinical trials and their results.<

SUBMITTER: Iskandar M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11764024 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature