Telomeres, telomerase and cardiac regeneration

The fundamental role of telomerase is to protect telomere length and maintain the potency of cell proliferation. Although increased telomerase activity is present in cardiac development or postinjury regeneration, repression of telomerase activity and expression seems to be independent of differentiation or cellular senescence. Telomerase maintains the proliferative capacity of myogenic stem cells by interacting with early transcription factors that drive cardiac development. Therefore, in addition to maintaining telomere length, telomerase also may be involved in regulation of cardiac specific gene expression, apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation. This can be explained by possible interactions of telomerase with cellular or nuclear proteins. In this chapter, we review recent studies of noncanonical roles of telomerase in cardiovascular development and repair.. Madonna, Rosalinda & Renna, F.V. & Confalone, Pat. (2015). Telomeres, telomerase and cardiac regeneration. The fundamental role of telomerase is to protect telomere length and maintain the potency of cell proliferation. Although increased telomerase activity is present in cardiac development or postinjury regeneration, repression of telomerase activity and expression seems to be independent of differentiation or cellular senescence. Telomerase maintains the proliferative capacity of myogenic stem cells by interacting with early transcription factors that drive cardiac development. Therefore, in addition to maintaining telomere length, telomerase also may be involved in regulation of cardiac specific gene expression, apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation. This can be explained by possible interactions of telomerase with cellular or nuclear proteins. In this chapter, we review recent studies of noncanonical roles of telomerase in cardiovascular development and repair