Cited by 263Telomeres, Telomerase, and SenescenceGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model OrganismsNuclear Structure and Function

Restoration of telomerase activity rescues chromosomal instability and premature aging in Terc−/− mice with short telomeres

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Samper, Enrique, Flores, Juana M, Blasco, María A·2001·The EMBO Reports

Abstract

Reconstitution of telomerase activity is proposed as a potential gene therapy to prevent, or rescue, age-related diseases produced by critical telomere shortening. However, it is not known whether or not short telomeres are irreversibly damaged. We addressed this by re-introducing telomerase in late generation telomerase-deficient mice, Terc-/-, which have short telomeres and show severe proliferative defects. For this, we have crossed these mice with Terc+/- mice and analyzed telomere length, chromosomal instability and premature aging of the progeny. The Terc-/- progeny had one set of chromosomes with normal telomeres, whereas the other set remained with critically short telomeres; these mice presented chromosomal instability and premature aging. In contrast, Terc+/- progeny showed all chromosomes with detectable telomeres, and did not show chromosomal instability or premature aging. These results prove that critically short telomeres can be rescued by telomerase, and become fully functional, thus rescuing premature aging. This has important implications for the future design of telomerase-based gene therapy of age-related diseases.

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  • The proliferation and survival defects in late-generation telomerase-knockout mice are caused by a subset of critically short telomeres rather than by a reduction in mean telomere length.

    “The defects in proliferation and survival seen in late-generation telomerase-knockout mice appear to be caused by a subset of critically short telomeres, rather than a reduction in mean telomere length.”

    From Telomeres and telomerase in cancer (2010) · cites this paper as [67]

  • Mice carrying a homozygous germline deletion of the telomerase RNA component gene (Terc−/−) exhibit critically short telomeres and premature development of age-related pathologies from the second or third generation.

    “In particular, mice carrying a homozygous germline deletion of the telomerase RNA component gene (Terc−/−) exhibit critically short telomeres and a premature development of age-related pathologies from the second or third generation [8, 18–20, 51, 70, 72, 101, 103]”
  • The most persuasive evidence for a causal role comes from in vitro and in vivo manipulation of telomerase activity which impacts on TL and has been shown to enhance or reverse senescence and ageing-associated phenotypes.

    “The most persuasive evidence for a causal role comes from in vitro and in vivo manipulation of telomerase activity which impacts on TL and has been shown to enhance or reverse senescence and ageing-associated phenotypes35–39.”

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  1. Zijlmans, J.M., Martens, U.M., Poon, S., Raap, A.K., Tanke, H.J., Ward, R.K. and Lansdorp, P.M. (1997) Telomeres in the mouse have large inter- chromosomal variations in the number of T2AG3 repeats. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 94, 7423-7428.

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Authors
Samper, E., Flores, J. M., & Blasco, M. A.
Affiliations
  • Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (ES)
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
Venue
The EMBO Reports
Published
2001-09-01
Volume
2
Issue
9
Pages
800-807
ISSN
  • 1469-221X (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-3178
OpenAlex
W1984552013
Cited by
263
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 11
FWCI
9.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • EMBO Reports (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Swiss Bridge Foundation
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nuclear Structure and Function
Keywords
telomerase, telomerase reconstitution, telomere shortening, chromosomal instability, premature aging, telomere length, gene therapy, age-related diseases
MeSH terms
Aging, Animals, Bone Marrow, Bone Marrow Cells, Chromosome Aberrations, Chromosomes, Crosses, Genetic, Genotype, Intestine, Small, Male, Mice, Transgenic, Phenotype, Testis, Y Chromosome, Telomere, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence, Telomerase, Mice

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