The overexpression of the enzyme telomerase, which is responsible for the elongation of telomeres and is present in about 90% of all human cancers, is one of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the onset of cancer.4 Telomerase is constituted by two major subunits – a telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and a telomerase RNA component (TERC) – both associated with important structural proteins (NHP2, NOP10, GAR and dyskerin). The gene discussed is NOP10; the disease is cancer.