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Originally Posted by openeyes  That's the telomere, which essentially all cells/chromosomes have. Apoptosis/programmed cell death is when a cell can no longer divide. It's thought that telomerase can be added to telomeres to rejuvenate the cell and enable it to continue dividing. In fact that's part of what cancer cells do: their telomeres regrow. The challenge (one of them at least) is to rejuvenate the telomeres in a cell without having it turn cancerous. |
Thanks for clarifying that. In a way then finding a cure for cancer and the key to eternal life go hand in hand. If we can figure out how to rejuvenate the telomeres, we should also be able to figure out how to stop them from regrowing in cancer cells. Though in practice things are probably a lot more complicated.