DETECTION OF CONDITIONS OR DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH AN ALTERED LEVEL OF TELOMERASE ACTIVITY

摘要

Method and compositions are provided for the determination of telomere lengt h and telomerase activity, as well as the ability to inhibit telomerase activity in the treatment of proliferative dis eases. Particularly, primers are elongated under conditi ons which minimize interference from other genomic sequences, so as to obtain ac curate determinations of telomeric length or telomerase activity. In addition, compositions are provided for intracellular inhibitio n of telomerase activity and means are shown for slowing the loss of telomeric repeats in aging cells.