Do longer telomeres prevent cancer as a deadly disease in particular, or are all deadly diseases such as cardiovascular disease equally prevented? Because with good cell division I actually think mainly of cancers.
Answer
Dear Marinus, despite all the fuss in the media, it is still not definitively proven that longer telomeres provide a longer life. We see id. shorter telomeres in many cancers and cardiovascular diseases, but the question remains whether this association is causal. If this effect were to occur, the impact would be limited in any case. It is therefore difficult to answer your question, but I can say that the evidence weighs slightly more heavily for an effect on cancer development. Mvg, Tim De Meyer
Answered by
Prof. dr. dr. ir. Tim De Meyer
Molecular Biotechnology, High-Through Data Analysis, Bioinformatics, Epigenetics
http://www.ugent.be
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