Telomerase (hTERT)

Class

AAV gene therapy

Telomerase is an enzyme complex whose catalytic subunit, hTERT, adds repetitive DNA sequences to the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) using an RNA template. Most adult cells silence hTERT after development, so telomeres shorten with each division until cells stop dividing or die, a process that limits tissue renewal but also guards against uncontrolled proliferation. Cancer cells commonly reactivate hTERT to escape this limit and divide indefinitely, making the enzyme both a near-universal tumor marker and a target for anti-cancer immunotherapy, where peptide fragments of hTERT are used to train the immune system to recognize and eliminate tumor cells expressing it. Conversely, insufficient telomerase activity in certain tissues contributes to premature cellular aging, degenerative disease, and fibrosis, motivating gene-therapy approaches that deliver the hTERT gene directly to restore telomere maintenance and extend the functional lifespan of affected cells. These two strategies exploit the same target from opposite directions: suppressing or exposing it in cancer, restoring it in degenerative disease.