Explore the Mysteries of Telomeres – Uncovering the Hidden Protein Secrets of Cancer and Aging

Jack Griffith and Taghreed Al-Turki from UNC School of Medicine have found out that the Telomeres at the end of chromosomes can make two proteins with powerful effects.

Scientists have recently discovered that telomeres, which are parts of our DNA made up of a bunch of repeating sequences, can help with understanding cancer and aging. They have an important biological function that we didn’t know about before!

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers from UNC School of Medicine discovered that telomeres can produce two small proteins. They also found out that one of these proteins is higher than normal in cancer cells and those of people with issues related to telomeres.

According to our findings, researchers think that with just one single blood test, it will be possible to detect certain illnesses, including cancer. It can even act as a measure of how ‘old’ someone is due to the fact that telomeres—a part of your genetic makeup—shorten over time.

The telomere has a special sequence of DNA that reaped and it prevents chromosomes from connecting to each other. Twenty years ago, the Griffith laboratory discovered that it was looping back on itself creating a small circle which hides its end so chromosomes won’t join together. When cells split, telomeres get shorter and when they become too short, the cell can no longer divide correctly and then dies away.

80 years ago, scientists discovered telomeres and because of the same type of pattern for them, people thought that telomeres couldn’t carry any kind of protein or have any important role in biology.

In 2011, a group in Florida found out that ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an inherited illness, was caused by an RNA molecule with six repeating parts. This molecule made these toxic proteins from two amino acids going back and forth. Al-Turki and Griffith noticed the same thing happening in human telomeres (when cells divide). They thought this novel mechanism might be the same.

Researchers performed some experiments which are explained in the PNAS paper and they found out that telomeric DNA can tell cells to make proteins called VR (valine-arginine) and GL (glycine-leucine). These proteins act as messengers. After getting instructions from these proteins, other proteins inside the cells start doing their jobs and this aids our body with important functions related to health or diseases.

Al-Turki and Griffith used electron microscopes, confocal microscopes and other advances in biology to figure out how VR and GL work. They discovered that the VR protein is found more often in human cancer cells as well as cells from people who have diseases because their telomeres don’t work correctly.

Researchers from the Griffith Lab think that as we get older, there could be a increase in two proteins called VR and GL in our blood. These proteins might help measure our age compared to how old we actually are. It’s also possible that inflammation could cause these proteins to form.

Dr. Griffith said that it’s very hard to be right if somebody tries to challenge the accepted views on something, since many people have worked so hard and studied about it for a long time. But sometimes two separate research fields don’t connect and this is what happened with her discovery. She found out that telomeres help identify two types of proteins which can potentially change our understanding of cancer, aging and how cells talk to each other.

We still have a lot of questions left to answer but the number one thing we should do now is making a blood test for some proteins. This will help us see how old our bodies are, as well as spotting any signs that something like cancer or inflammation might happen.

Scientists have discovered that mammalian telomeric RNA (TERRA) can be used to make proteins with a certain pattern. These proteins are made of two parts, which contain Valine and Arginine, or Glycine and Leucine. This discovery was published in a scientific journal on February 22nd, 2023 called “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” with a special code number (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221529120) so other scientists could read it too!

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. It couldn’t happen without the UNC Viral Vector Core and the light microscopy facility at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Jack Griffith has a job in both the UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.