Tag Archives: alternative

One strategy, which occurs in about 90 percent of cancers, requires increase production of a telomere-elongating enzyme called telomerase. A less understood strategy, employed by the remaining 10-15 percent of cancers, is called ALT (for Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres). Previously, biologists knew ALT existed simply because tumor cells could rebuild long, albeit unkempt-looking telomeres without telomerase. …