REVIEW article
Front. Mol. Biosci.
Sec. Structural Biology
Recent Progress in Human Telomerase Structure and its Therapeutic Targeting
Provisionally accepted
- Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Most cancer and stem cells activate telomerase to preserve critical genetic material during cell division. Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase ribonucleoprotein that adds telomeric repeats to chromosome ends, thus overcoming the end-replication problem. Shortening of telomeric repeats, or telomeres, is associated with genomic instability, cancer, and aging. Telomerase dysfunction during early development leads to telomeropathies such as dyskeratosis congenita, pulmonary fibrosis, and aplastic anaemia. Recent advancements in cryo-electron microscopy and improved strategies for purifying human telomerase have laid a strong foundation in the structural biology of telomerase, advancing our understanding of its molecular interactome. In this report, we review the latest progress in human telomerase structure and outline emerging therapeutic strategies targeting telomerase.
Keywords: Telomerase, Imetelstat, Structural Biology, cryo-electron microscopy, Drug Discovery
Received: 08 Aug 2025; Accepted: 13 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Almansoori, Awad, Dhaiban, Alduhoori, Sharif and Sajini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Humayun Sharif, humayun.sharif@ku.ac.ae
Abdulrahim Sajini, asajini@aus.edu
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