ATRX modulates the escape from a telomere crisis

Telomerase activity is the principal telomere maintenance mechanism in human cancers, but 10 to 15% of cancers utilise a recombination-based mechanism referred to as alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) that leads to long and heterogenous telomere length distributions. Our data show that the loss of ATRX combined with telomere dysfunction during crisis induces the ALT pathway in fibroblasts and enables a transient activation of ALT in epithelial cells.