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arXiv · 1608.02574

Critical Telomerase Activity for Uncontrolled Cell Growth

Neil L Wesch·Laura J Burlock·Robert J Gooding
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Abstract

The lengths of the telomere regions of chromosomes in a population of cells are modelled using a chemical master equation formalism, from which the evolution of the average number of cells of each telomere length is extracted. In particular, the role of the telomere-elongating enzyme telomerase on these dynamics is investigated. We show that for biologically relevant rates of cell birth and death, one finds a critical rate, R_crit, of telomerase activity such that the total number of cells diverges. Further, R_crit is similar in magnitude to the rates of mitosis and cell death. The possible relationship of this result to replicative immortality and its associated hallmark of cancer is discussed.

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Neil L Wesch, Laura J Burlock, Robert J Gooding. 2016-08-08. Critical Telomerase Activity for Uncontrolled Cell Growth. https://doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975%2F13%2F4%2F046005

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