Have you ever wondered how our bodies fight against cancer? 🧐 Scientists have just discovered an amazing secret! Our cells have a special way to protect us, and it involves tiny parts called telomeres.
But what are telomeres? Imagine the ends of your shoelaces—they have little plastic tips to stop them from fraying, right? Telomeres are like those tips, but for our chromosomes, which are like strings of DNA inside our cells.
Over time, these telomeres get shorter and shorter, like when your shoelace tips wear down. When they get very short, the cell knows it’s time to stop dividing. This is important because it helps prevent cells from growing out of control and becoming cancerous.
Scientists from the Children’s Medical Research Institute in Sydney and the University of Kyoto found that telomeres are even cooler than we thought! 🤩 They don’t just shorten over time—they can actually sense when the cell is under stress and tell it to slow down or stop dividing to prevent cancer.
“Our data shows telomeres are much more active,” said Dr. Tony Cesare from the Genome Integrity Unit at CMRI. “They can respond to stress and help stop cancer before it starts.”
This discovery, published in the journal Nature Communications, could even help doctors find new ways to treat cancer in the future. By understanding how telomeres work, scientists might develop new therapies that tell cancer cells to stop growing.
Isn’t it amazing how our bodies have such clever ways to keep us healthy? 😊
Reference(s):
Scientists uncover new mechanism that defends against cancer
cgtn.com
