ReviewInternational journal of molecular sciences2018
Telomere Length Maintenance in Cancer: At the Crossroad between Telomerase and Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT).
Review in International journal of molecular sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 185 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Association Between Telomere Length and Skin Cancer and Aging: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Pooled it
- Identification of telomere-related gene signatures for immune cell infiltration and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.Translational cancer research · 2026Article
- Emerging role of proteomics in advancing diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of liver cancer.Liver research (Beijing, China) · 2026Review
- An Innovative Telomere-associated Prognosis Model in AML: Predicting Immune Infiltration and Treatment Responsiveness.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Article
- Telomere Biology, Erosion, and Age-Related Conditions: Insights from Down Syndrome and Other Telomere-Associated Disorders.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- From Fibrosis to Malignancy: Mechanistic Intersections Driving Lung Cancer Progression.Cancers · 2025Review
- The role of telomeres in leukemic stem cells function.Regenerative therapy · 2025Review
- Telomerase and alternative lengthening of telomeres coexist in the regenerating zebrafish caudal fins.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- Three-Dimensional Organization of Telomeres: An Emerging Prognostic Biomarker in Multiple Myeloma.Cells · 2025Review
- Telomerase inhibitors TMPyP4 and BIBR 1532 show synergistic antitumor activity in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Epitalon increases telomere length in human cell lines through telomerase upregulation or ALT activity.Biogerontology · 2025Article
- Telomere length and skin cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.Oncology letters · 2025Article
- Telomere Maintenance and DNA Repair: A Bidirectional Relationship in Cancer Biology and Therapy.Cancers · 2025Review
- Alternative lengthening of telomeres confers favorable prognosis in chondrosarcomas.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Effect of Telomere Length on Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Risk Using Mendelian Randomization.International dental journal · 2025Article
- Beyond Telomeres: Unveiling the Extratelomeric Functions of TERT in B-Cell Malignancies.Cancers · 2025Review
- Telomeres and telomerase in mesothelioma: Pathophysiology, biomarkers and emerging therapeutic strategies (Review).International journal of oncology · 2025Review
- The complex interplay between aging and cancer.Nature aging · 2025Review
- Detection of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres via Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization for the Prognostication of PanNETs and Other Neoplasms.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2025Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Eukaryotic cells undergo continuous telomere shortening as a consequence of multiple rounds of replications. During tumorigenesis, cells have to acquire telomere DNA maintenance mechanisms (TMMs) in order to counteract telomere shortening, to preserve telomeres from DNA damage repair systems and to avoid telomere-mediated senescence and/or apoptosis. For this reason, telomere maintenance is an essential step in cancer progression. Most human tumors maintain their telomeres expressing telomerase, whereas a lower but significant proportion activates the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway. However, evidence about the coexistence of ALT and telomerase has been found both in vivo in the same cancer populations and in vitro in engineered cellular models, making the distinction between telomerase- and ALT-positive tumors elusive. Indeed, after the development of drugs able to target telomerase, the capability for some cancer cells to escape death, switching from telomerase to ALT, was highlighted. Unfortunately, to date, the mechanism underlying the possible switching or the coexistence of telomerase and ALT within the same cell or populations is not completely understood and different factors could be involved. In recent years, different studies have tried to shed light on the complex regulation network that controls the transition between the two TMMs, suggesting a role for embryonic cancer origin, epigenetic modifications, and specific genes activation-both in vivo and in vitro. In this review, we examine recent findings about the cancer-associated differential activation of the two known TMMs and the possible factors implicated in this process. Furthermore, some studies on cancers are also described that did not display any TMM.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.