Telomere shortening in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a potential mechanism for late graft failure?

N Awaya, GM Baerlocher, TJ Manley… - Biology of Blood and …, 2002 - astctjournal.org
Telomeres serve to maintain the structural integrity of chromosomes, yet each somatic cell
division is associated with a decrease in telomere length. The cumulative decrease in
telomere length can impose an upper limit for the number of cell divisions that can occur
before a cell senesces. When studied in vitro with fibroblasts, this limit is referred to as the
Hayflick limit and usually occurs after 40 to 80 cell doublings. In theory, a similar replicative
potential in a hematopoietic stem cell could support hematopoiesis in a person for more than …