Telomere Shortening reduces Survival despite Suppression of Carcinoma Formation during Chronic Liver Damage

Telomere shortening limits the regenerative capacity during aging and chronic disease but at the same time inhibits tumor progression. To use telomerase-therapy for the treatment of regenerative disorders it will be important to analyze which of these mechanisms dominantly affects survival. In HBV-transgenic mice, a model of chronic liver damage, crossed with telomerase deficient (mTERC-/-) mice the impact of telomere shortening on hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and liver regeneration was tested. We analyzed mTERC+/+ wildtype mice and late generation G3mTERC-/- mice, both either HBV-positive or negative. The animal…