IL1B and Barrett esophagus: In order to evaluate the impact of telomere shortening on early stages of metaplasia in BE, we eliminated mTERC (mTERC−/−) the catalytic subunit of telomerase [25] in the L2-IL1B mouse model of BE [26].The IL1B-mouse model closely resembles human disease, leading to a Barrett-like metaplasia at the gastroesophageal junction with progression from BE to LGD to HGD and EAC.