Silencing of the hTERT gene through RNA interference induces apoptosis             via bax/bcl-2 in human glioma cells.
Glioma cells are characterized by their invasiveness and resistance to conventional             therapeutics. The downregulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)             can lead to decreased cell proliferation and/or the induction of apoptotic cell             death in cancer cells but has rarely been reported in glioma cells. Here, we assessed             the effect of the silencing of the hTERT gene on cell apoptosis and its possible             molecular mechanism in T98G glioma cells. We found that the silencing of the hTERT             gene in T98G cells significantly decreased cell proliferation and telomerase activity,             increased the number of cells in G1 phase and decreased the number of cells in             S phase, and induced apoptosis via decreasing the protein level of bcl-2 and c-myc             and increasing the protein levels of bax and p53.
Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, and Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, PR China.
Tuo
T
Wang
Yan
Y
Xue
Maode
M
Wang
Qiang
Q
Sun
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints / Q000235:genetics; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000235:genetics; D015536:Down-Regulation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016259:Genes, myc; D005910:Glioma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
C494826:BAX protein, human; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase