Chapter 23.2, Problem 33CQ

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The anticancer drugs using the knowledge that cancer cells are immortals because they have mutations that allow telomerase to be expressed.

Introduction:

Telomeres are special sequences present at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. In most somatic cells, the chromosomal ends cannot be replicated. This causes shortening of telomeres with each cell division. Such shortening of telomeres leads to the destruction of the chromosome and cell death, so somatic cells are capable of undergoing an only limited number of cell divisions.