2-5A-anti-hTER

What is 2-5A-anti-hTER?
2-5A-anti-hTER is a combination of 2-5 linked oligoadenylate antisense with a human telomerase RNA component. This allows the compound to directly degrade the RNA of telomerase.[1] Like most parts of the body the normal brain tissue has only a minimal amount of telomerase activity. On the other hand cancerous brain tissue does express high telomerase levels thus creating a link that might help destroy these cells. 2-5A-anti-hTER was used to block the telomerase process and found to be effective on intracranial malignant gliomas in mice.[1] If this process was found to be effective in humans it would create a much less evasive alternative to chemotherapy.



By Peter Knipler //Last edited 11/11/2011//

References:
[1] Mukai, S., Kondo, Y., Koga, S., Komata, T., Barna, B.P. & Kondo, S. 2000, "2-5A Antisense Telomerase RNA therapy for intracranial Malignant Gliomas", vol. 60, pp. 4461.