Telomeres and Nobel Prize

Last month (10 September 2009) in this blog, we talked about telomeres and their significance in cell biology. Telomeres are chromosome portion positioned at the extremity of chromosome self; they protect DNA from fusion or other genetic abnormalities that may occur during DNA replication. Telomeres are progressively consumed for the lack of activity of telomerase, provoking aging and cellular death in regulated way. Giving the importance of this biological structure, in October 5, 2009, Carol Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak won Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine.

Since 1980, they worked in three different Institution in USA, at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland, the University of California, San Francisco and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, respectively. Nobel prize history is always interesting and curious: for instance C. Greider saw the telomerase activity for the first time during Christmas day in 1984: she had a really important present for Christmas, but also she was working in this special day. So, Nobel Prize is the result of a lot of works, sacrifices and also serendipity. Someone criticizes this award, because prof. Olovnikov in 1973, so at least 10 years before Noble prize winners, highlighted the importance of the ends of chromosome during replication in his theory of marginotomy. Is an old question that Noble prize is often related to policy and politic aspect. In all case, the scientific value of this discovery is out of discussion. Telomere and telomerase enzyme have a crucial role in cancer, indeed in cancer cells telomerases continue to construct telomere after multiple replication cycle –normally after a defined number of replication cells die- and cells still alive, accumulate mutations and become malignant and maybe metastatic. Studies about telomerase inhibitors represent a new therapeutic modality to treat cancer and an hope for patients: some clinical trials have been started, directly acting versus telomerase enzymatic activity.

However, there is still a lot of information missing about telomere and telomerase and further basic studies must be performed in order to well understand this complex mechanism: indeed, it is not completely understood how telomerase activity is regulated in each telomere and how telomerase block DNA repair enzymes that can recognize break in the double stranded helix and re-stitch the torn end and again, how cancer cells can maintain the activity of telomerase at so high levels. All these questions will be solved in future research. Finally, this is the first time that two women are awarded together for Noble Prize and, in general, only 10 women have been awarded for this important prize. We hope that academic and science world will offer more career opportunities to women that want to follow this way than that are available now: Nobel Prize Award 2009 could represent a good starting point.