Safety of Whole-Body Abrogation of the TRF1 Shelterin Protein in Wild-Type and Cancer-Prone Mouse Models

    September 2019 in “ iScience ”
    Leire Bejarano, Jessica Louzame, Juan Montero, Diego Megı́as, Juana M. Flores, Marı́a A. Blasco
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    TLDR Deleting the Trf1 protein in mice is safe and may help prevent cancer without major side effects.
    The study demonstrated that genetic deletion of Trf1 in both wild-type and cancer-prone p53- and Ink4Arf-deficient mice did not compromise overall viability and only caused mild side effects such as decreased body weight and hair graying or hair loss, with the skin being the most affected tissue. Crucially, Trf1 was found to be essential for tumorigenesis in the cancer-prone mice, as no tumors originated from Trf1-deleted cells. These results suggested a potential therapeutic window for targeting Trf1 in cancer treatment without causing significant harm to healthy tissues.
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