Telomeres: The Connection to Ageing and Cancer

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Molecular Biology
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Introduction
Within a cell’s nucleus, the genes are aligned along with crumpled, double-stranded DNA
molecules that are referred to as chromosomes. Telomeres are the DNA stretches that are found
at the ends of those chromosomes. Their main role is to protect the genetic information and they
create an opportunity for the cells to segregate (de Jesus and Blasco, 2013 p.514). Moreover,
they keep secrets about ageing and cancer. In most cases, telomeres are described like the plastic
tips of a shoelace since they protect the ends of chromosomes against sticking or fraying to each
other to avoid scrambling or destroying the genetic data of an organism. Moreover, every time
cell division takes place, the telomeres shorten. When they cannot shorten anymore, the cell
stops dividing because either it dies, or it becomes senescent and inactive. Thus, the process of
shortening is connected to higher risks of cancer, ageing, or death.
The connection between Telomeres (Cellular Age and Cancer)
To start with, telomeres are connected to ageing because, among individuals who are
above 60 years, those with shorter telomeres were reported to be more vulnerable as they were
three times probable to succumb from heart failure and eight times to die from an infectious
illness. However, even though the shortening of telomeres is connected to the ageing process, it
has not yet been discovered if the shorter telomeres can be seen as signs of ageing such as the
grey hair or they actually cause ageing. The scientists are unsure about the relationship between
the ageing process and shortening of telomeres even though they have succeeded in using
telomerase in the lab to maintain the division of human cells beyond the usual limit yet they do
not develop into cancer (Blackburn, Epel and Lin, 2015 p.1193). On the other hand, telomeres
are connected to cancer because they divide multiple times until the telomeres happen to be too
short. In most cases, if the cells are too short they may die or at some point, they make more