{"doi":"10.3390/cancers17142284","title":"Telomere Maintenance and DNA Repair: A Bidirectional Relationship in Cancer Biology and Therapy","abstract":"<jats:p>Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that protect against genomic instability and prevent unwanted DNA damage responses. In most somatic cells, telomeres progressively shorten with each division, limiting cellular lifespan. However, cancer cells bypass this limitation by activating telomerase or the alternative lengthening of telomeres, enabling unchecked proliferation and tumor progression. This review examines the molecular mechanisms underlying telomere maintenance and their intricate relationship with DNA repair pathways. We discuss how telomere-associated proteins regulate genomic stability and explore therapeutic strategies targeting telomerase and alternative lengthening of telomeres. Challenges such as resistance mechanisms and off-target effects are also considered, highlighting the need for precision approaches in telomere-based cancer therapies.</jats:p>","journal":"Cancers","year":2025,"id":664299,"datarank":0.38939465665927586,"base_score":2.3978952727983707,"endowment":2.3978952727983707,"self_citation_contribution":0.3596842909197557,"citation_network_contribution":0.029710365739520177,"self_endowment_contribution":0.3596842909197557,"citer_contribution":0.029710365739520177,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":10,"citer_count":10,"citers_with_citation_signal":6,"citers_with_endowment":6,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1734571,"name":"Mikołaj Sędzik","orcid":"0009-0002-8751-5906","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1692977,"name":"Monika Kisielewska","orcid":"0009-0002-8166-4353","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734572,"name":"Wiktoria Łuniewska","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734573,"name":"Kamil Sebastianka","orcid":"0009-0005-9248-5512","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734574,"name":"Klaudia Molik","orcid":"0000-0001-9624-4074","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734575,"name":"Katarzyna Skinderowicz","orcid":"0009-0002-9083-3593","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734576,"name":"Jacek Kuźnicki","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1734577,"name":"Joanna Tunikowska","orcid":"0000-0002-0596-0962","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1508319,"name":"Julita Kulbacka","orcid":"0000-0001-8272-5440","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1692984,"name":"Nina Rembiałkowska","orcid":"0000-0001-9435-9409","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Telomere Maintenance and DNA Repair: A Bidirectional Relationship in Cancer Biology and Therapy","abstract":"Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that protect against genomic instability and prevent unwanted DNA damage responses. In most somatic cells, telomeres progressively shorten with each division, limiting cellular lifespan. However, cancer cells bypass this limitation by activating telomerase or the alternative lengthening of telomeres, enabling unchecked proliferation and tumor progression. This review examines the molecular mechanisms underlying telomere maintenance and their intricate relationship with DNA repair pathways. We discuss how telomere-associated proteins regulate genomic stability and explore therapeutic strategies targeting telomerase and alternative lengthening of telomeres. Challenges such as resistance mechanisms and off-target effects are also considered, highlighting the need for precision approaches in telomere-based cancer therapies.","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":2.3978952727983707,"endowment":2.3978952727983707,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40723168","pmcid":"PMC12293126","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4412176244","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Statutory Subsidy Funds of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology","grant_id":"148","title":null},{"funder_name":"Wroclaw Medical Uniwersity","grant_id":"SUBZ.D260.25.027","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":6.2389,"citation_percentile":0.9697868,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":9}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/17/14/2284/pdf?version=1752058186","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/17/14/2284/pdf?version=1752058186","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17142284","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40723168","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12293126","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12293126","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12293126?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence","Cancer Research and Treatments","Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Telomere","Telomerase","Genome instability","DNA repair","Biology","DNA damage","Somatic cell","Cancer cell","DNA","Cancer","Limiting","Chromosome instability","Genetics","Cancer research","Computational biology","Cell biology","Chromosome","Gene","Genomic instability","Alternative lengthening of telomeres","Telomerase activation","Telomere Maintenance","Dna Repair Pathways","Telomere-Targeted Cancer Therapy"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-13T02:02:17.037579Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}