Submitted by MirielTheDog t3_yi3po7 in explainlikeimfive
JaggedMetalOs t1_iuhe9nb wrote
Reply to comment by I3reezyCarrot in ELI5: How exactly do people die of old age? by MirielTheDog
The special telomere repairing protein (telomerase) is active in Humans. It's what resets the telomere length in embryos, and it's also active (but not enough to fully replenish them) in any body tissues that need to regenerate.
One place it's fully active is in cancer cells. It's theorized one of the functions of shortening telomeres is to prevent cancer, because any cancer starting to grow will burn through its telomeres and die, unless the cancer cell is able to mutate to repair its telomeres.
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