De novo digenic mutations of telomere-associated proteins and inflammasomes initiate many chronic human diseases: a hypothesis.

Many age-related human diseases have inflammatory components of uncertain causes. It has been proposed that some may be initiated or sustained by doubly mutated immune cells that have both inappropriately activated inflammasomes and enhanced replicative potential. Genes of cells that express mutant TERT and NLRP3 proteins are presumed to be at increased risk for mutagenesis because they reside in subtelomeric regions of chromatin that are deficient in DNA repair mechanisms. Expanded clones of proinflammatory cells can occur throughout one's lifetime and could represent an alternative explanation for some forms of pathologic scarring that are now attributed to truncated telomeres.-Marchesi, V. T. De novo digenic mutations of telomere-associated proteins and inflammasomes initiate many chronic human diseases: a hypothesis.