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NickOnMars t1_j9ewrje wrote

The researchers hypothesized that the RNA generated from human telomeres could generate a series of toxic proteins, which they termed VR (valine-arginine) and GL (glycine-leucine). The VR protein is present in elevated amounts in some human cancer cells and cells from patients suffering from diseases resulting from defective telomeres. The researchers believe that the amount of VR and GL in our blood may steadily rise as we age, providing a new biomarker for biological age as contrasted to chronological age.

This is connecting cancer and aging, again.

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Pure-Challenge9656 t1_j9h4c3i wrote

What I don’t get is that if telomeres shorten with aging, shouldn’t their capacity to produce these proteins decrease? Is rising levels in the blood with age solely due to production from cancerous cells?

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HelixFish t1_j9iskmc wrote

That’s a good thought! DNA and RNA have many regulatory elements though which can cause proteins to be made or to stop them from being made. It could be that a regulatory element on the ends of the telomeres stop these toxic proteins from being made, but when we age and the telomeres shorten the regulatory elements get lost. This causes the toxic proteins to be made, causing age related damage.

ELI5: The off switch for the toxic proteins could be on the ends of the telomeres, and when they shorten the switch gets turned on, causing age related damage.

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AwesomeDragon97 t1_j9mmrq9 wrote

Why is the DNA in the telomeres transcripted into RNA if the purpose of it is to act as a buffer zone to prevent DNA damage at the ends of chromosomes?

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