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Telomerase Inhibition And Sensitization Of Breast Tumor Cells, Kennon R. Poynter

Theses and Dissertations

Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme minimally composed of an RNA template (hTR) and a catalytically active protein subunit (hTERT), synthesizes telomeric repeats onto chromosome ends and is obligatory for continuous tumor cell proliferation, as well as malignant progression of breast cancer cells. Telomerase is an attractive anticancer therapeutic target because its activity is present in over 90% of human cancers, including more than 95% of breast carcinomas, but undetectable in most somatic cells. Traditions chemo- and radio-therapies lack the ability to effectively control and cure breast cancer, in part because residual cells are or become resistant to DNA damaging modalities.While various …