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Review
Telomerase as a Target for Cancer Immunotherapy
Binh Nguyen, Lynn W. Elmore and Shawn E. Holt
volume 2 | issue 2
march/april 2003Pages: 131-136
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Telomerase is the ribonucleoprotein that enables cancer and stem cells to maintain their telomeres, resulting in unlimited proliferative potential. The catalytic component of telomerase in humans, hTERT, is upregulated in nearly 90% of all cancers, making it the most widely expressed marker of malignancy. With the exception of germ cells and stem cells, hTERT is undetectable in somatic human tissues. Together, these properties make telomerase a leading candidate for cancer therapy. Various therapies have been employed in tissue culture and in mouse models utilizing genetic, pharmacological, and immunological approaches. The purpose of this review is to critically examine the role of hTERT in cancer immunotherapy by providing a comparison of the current experiments and a proposal for an innovative method utilizing DNA vaccination.
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDFIf the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.