端粒酶与细胞永生化和肿瘤的发生发展密切相关,过去认为是由于端粒酶保护端粒从而阻止因端粒缩短所导致的细胞凋亡;然而近年来,越来越多证据表明:端粒酶在维持端粒长度之外,还存在着非端粒保护作用。通过对其非端粒保护作用的研究,有助于深入而全面地阐明端粒酶的生物学行为及其作用机理,对于肿瘤等疾病的治疗具有重要意义。本文对端粒酶的非端粒保护作用进行小结。
Telomerase is tightly associated with cell immortality and cancer development,which had been generally considered to be due to the ability of telomerase to prevent apoptosis by stabilizing telomeres.However,in recent years,more and more evidence indicates that besides the important role of telomerase in maintaining the length of telomere,there exists a telomere- independent survival function of telomerase.Researches on the telomere-independent functions of telomerase will contribute to an overall and deep elucidation of the biological behavior of telomerase and related mechanisms,with important significance on the therapy of tumor and other related diseases.Here we summarize the telomere-independent function of telomerase.