Student Questions from Telomerase and Cancer Class Presentation

I gave my presentation on Telomerase and Cancer on April 1st, 2010.

Student Questions:

Q: How does Gene Therapy and Immunotherapy affect cancer cells? Does it kill them or slow down the process?

A: Immunotherapy is a vaccine that is used to build up antibodies against telomerase so that telomere lengthening does not occur. For Gene Therapy, scientists are targeting the cancer cell's telomerase; trying to inhibit it so that the cancer cell's telomeres cannot lengthen during each cell division, instead the cell's telomeres will shorten in every cell division; the cell will eventually die just like our normal somatic cells do. Here is a website with more information about the future of telomerase inhibition:

http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v98/n4/full/6604209a.html