Comment Re:cancer (Score 1) 183
And yet there are stem cells in the body that can naturally express telomerase, so overcome the limit.
But it sure does seem to not be a defect or problem that there is a limit.
Easy to see how messing with this in healthy people would be likely to cause more harm than good, especially if they can't be extremely selective about which cells they apply this to.
Over time cell division inherently degrades the genetic material, because the error correction in the copying mechanism used in Mitosis is not good enough. Cancer, uncontrolled division, disease, new cells conveying inappropriate signals or not responding appropriately, or cells releasing harmfully warped versions of proteins, enzymes, catalysts, or other substrates or substances are just some of the bad things that can result.