Chromosome Researchers Win 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Posted by Wendy Anne Makhdum Prosser Oct 5, 2009

The winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were announced today in Stockholm; they are Elizabeth H. Blackburn from the University of California San Francisco, Carol W. Greider from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Jack W. Szostak from Harvard Medical School. The prize was awarded jointly for their work on "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".

'Telomere' is the name given to the region at the ends of each of our chromosomes – the tightly bound packages of DNA that carry our genes. The telomeres do not contain any genes themselves, but guard the chromosomes from damage when the cell that contains them divides. Dr Blackburn has compared telomeres to the tips on the ends of shoelaces that stop them unravelling. Telomerase is an enzyme involved in the building of these protective caps.

Understanding the functions of telomeres and telomerase is important in medicine because it may help solve problems such why we age, and the causes of cancer cell growth (Gu J et al. Carcinogenesis 2005; 26(10): 1741–7). It has been suggested that repeated shortening of the telomeres every time a cell divides places a limit on the total number of divisions the cell can undergo, and thereby on its lifespan. Conversely, cancer cells can divide indefinitely, and have been shown to contain high levels of telomerase.

Findings such as these have prompted a search for ways to block the action of telomerase in malignant cells, and perhaps provide a new treatment for cancer.