On Sep 2, 11:17Â pm, Pop Fly
gmail.com> wrote:> No thanks, sounds way too long. I could probably handle 10,000 years.
>
> On Sep 2, 8:42Â pm, Sir Frederick
fuzzysys.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> How would you like to live 1,000,000 years?
>> Quantum processes are ageless.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------ÂÂ-
>
>
>> An enzyme linked to most human cancers has finally yielded its secrets – it may
>> also help defeat ageing
>> Â At the heart of almost all human cancers is a rogue enzyme, telomerase. Now the
>> structure of a key catalytic component of the enzyme has been discovered, paving
>> the way to more effective anti-cancer and, perhaps, anti-ageing drugs.
>
>> Telomerase is responsible for adding unique repetitive sequences of DNA, called
>> telomeres, at one end of chromosomes. These telomere caps ensure the chromosomes
>> don't fall apart, but because telomerase is dormant in most adult cells each
>> time a cell divides, its telomere loses a chunk of DNA. Eventually, when cells
>> can no longer divide, they die – this protects against cancer.
>
>> When telomerase is more active than it should be, telomeres don't get shorter.
>> Instead, cells continue dividing beyond their normal limits, and become
>> cancerous.
>
>> This has made telomerase a prime target for anti-cancer and anti-ageing
>> therapies, but a lack of information on the structure of its catalytic subunit,
>> TERT, has hindered progress.
>
>> Beetle bonanza
>> Emmanuel Skordalakes and his team from The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia,
>> finally cracked the structure when they discovered that a gene in an insect –
>> the flour beetle – could be harnessed to produce the enzyme in massive
>> quantities.
>
>> This enabled the team to analyse TERT using X-ray crystallography.
>
>> "Structural studies of telomerase have been extremely difficult due to the size
>> and complexity of the enzyme, which in turn made it difficult to isolate the
>> protein component of telomerase in sufficient, stable quantities for the
>> proposed studies," says Skordalakes.
>
>> The structural analysis reveals that TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase
>> protein) consists of three domains, and forms a ring-like doughnut structure
>> that creates a central hole. When the telomere is being built, this hole allows
>> a nucleic acid template molecule about eight nucleotide bases long to fit
>> inside.
>
>> Anti-ageing drug?
>> Previously scientists had thought that the structure of the enzyme is similar to
>> HIV transcriptase and developed anti-telomerase drugs accordingly. The
>> structural analysis confirms there is a similarity, but it also reveals that one
>> of the domains in the TERT protein – called the carboxy-terminal extension or
>> CTE – has a unique type of protein fold, never been seen before.
>
>> This feature could help develop anti-telomerase drugs that specifically target
>> the fold.
>
>> "Now that they know what the structure of the catalytic subunit is, they can
>> design drugs that can bind to the protein subunit and either inhibit its
>> activity for anti-cancer treatment, or promote its activity as anti-ageing
>> therapy," says Stephen Neidle, from The School of Pharmacy, University of
>> London, UK.
>
>> Neidle says developing drugs to target the enzyme could be used in combination
>> with existing anti-telomerase anti-cancer therapies currently in clinical
>> trials, such as a class of telomerase vaccines.
>
>> Aubrey de Grey of the Methuselah Foundation says: "If we had a really cast-iron
>> therapy against all cancers, it might well be a good idea to stimulate
>> telomerase, with a drug, for example, that might have widespread anti-ageing
>> effects."
>
>> Journal reference: Nature (DOI:10/1038/nature07283)
>
>> --
>> Frederick Martin McNeill
>> Poway, California, United States of America
>> mmcne...@
fuzzysys.com
>> ******************************************
>> "I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe."
>> - Leo Rosten
>> ******************************************- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Maybe an anti-telomerase drug will be a "God-sent' drug for those who
pray to live long enough to guarantee their death by cancer! ;-)
