AGING IN 

OBSTETRIC GYNECOLOGY

Power point by:

Dr. Chaerannisa Akmelia
 Diet and Menstrual Cycle

 One of the most common menstrual cycle

disorders: Amenorrhea

 Amenorrhea
 Absence of a menstrual period in woman of
reproductive age

 Commonly associated with lack of proper nutrition

 There is a change in daily dietary recommendation

Old Food Pyramid
NEW Food Pyramid
 AGING AND GENES

 Aging
 Normal biological development
 On the level of individuals

 Wang, NTHU
 “A time dependent loss of vigor resulting in increased
mortality”

 Two major aspects:

 How long an organism lives
 Physiological deterioration, or senescence (inability to
divide, grow, and function, and ultimately ends in death)
Hayflick’s Paradigm
Hayflick limit or Hayflick phenomenon
The number of times a normal human cell population will divide until cell
division stops (cell senescence)
 
Factors responsible for senescence
 Telomeres
shorten

Eroded
telomeres

Telomere shortening
causes cell senescence Persistent DNA
damage
Somatic cells usually lack telomerase activity, response
which means telomeres shorten with each cell
division
Activate
p53/p21
Cellular senescence is an important tumor
pathway
suppressor mechanism
 What about cancer cells?

 The presence of telomerase in cancer cells allows them to maintain

telomere length while they proliferate
Healthy Re-activate Fountain of
cells telomerase youth?

Q: Is telomerase the key to

eternal youth?
 A: Who knows

Re-activate May stimulate

Healthy cells
telomerase cancer

 DePinho
 Rejuvenate inactivated telomerase in mice  Reverse effects of aging in
brain, testes, spleen, liver, intestines, and other organs

 David Harrison
 “Telomere rejuvenation is potentially very dangerous unless you make
sure it does not stimulate cancer”
What about the other way around?
Can it be a possible cancer therapy?

Healthy Inhibit Cancer

cells? telomerase cells
 Inhibition of
telomerase activity

Telomerase inhibition
as cancer therapy Telomeres
shortening
Also called anti-telomerase cancer
therapy
Destabilizes
chromosomes

Cellular
senescence

Cellular death
 Is it the same for all types of cancer?
Inhibiting
 Key molecule involved is p53
telomerase activity
 Induce growth inhibitory
genes
Telomere
 Leading to DNA repair or shortening
apoptosis

 Most tumors have a Cellular senescence

mutated/non-functional p53 (Not cellular death)

 What would be the effect of Cells stay alive &

anti-telomerase therapy on metabolically active
tumors with intact p53
molecule?
Tumor re-growth
Source: may occur
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~lina0785/ARTICLES/2004/telomerase%20inhibitor.ht
What about gynecological cancers?
 5 most common
gynecological cancers:
 Uterine cancer
 Ovarian cancer
 Cervical cancer
 Vulvar cancer
 Vaginal cancer

 p53 mutation is found in

most cases of gynecological
cancers

Is anti-telomerase therapy applicable for

gynecological cancers?
Discoveries in telomere structure and telomerase functions have led to an
increasing interest in targeting telomeres and telomerase in anti-cancer
therapy and it seems there is no end in sight for researches regarding
telomerase-targeted cancer drugs