re poor cell memory is key to cancer

[Guest guest]

Hi Rodney and all,

It makes me remember that Carnosine is an agent that reduces the number of

cell divisions. Perhaps part of the solution?

L-carnosine reduces telomere damage and shortening rate in cultured normal

fibroblasts.

Shao L, Li QH, Tan Z.

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, PR China.

Telomere is the repetitive DNA sequence at the end of chromosomes, which

shortens progressively with cell division and limits the replicative

potential of normal human somatic cells. L-carnosine, a naturally occurring

dipeptide, has been reported to delay the replicative senescence, and extend

the lifespan of cultured human diploid fibroblasts. In this work, we studied

the effect of carnosine on the telomeric DNA of cultured human fetal lung

fibroblast cells. Cells continuously grown in 20 mM carnosine exhibited a

slower telomere shortening rate and extended lifespan in population

doublings. When kept in a long-term nonproliferating state, they accumulated

much less damages in the telomeric DNA when cultured in the presence of

carnosine. We suggest that the reduction in telomere shortening rate and

damages in telomeric DNA made an important contribution to the

life-extension effect of carnosine.

PMID: 15474517 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]