title: Endoplasmic reticulum stress activates telomerase.
abstract: Telomerase contributes to cell proliferation and survival through both telomere-dependent and telomere-independent mechanisms. In this report, we discovered that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress transiently activates the catalytic components of telomerase (TERT) expression in human cancer cell lines and murine primary neural cells. Importantly, we show that depletion of hTERT sensitizes cells to undergo apoptosis under ER stress, whereas increased hTERT expression reduces ER stress-induced cell death independent of catalytically active enzyme or DNA damage signaling. Our findings establish a functional link between ER stress and telomerase, both of which have important implications in the pathologies associated with aging and cancer.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aging Research, Hangzhou Normal University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310036, China; Key Laboratory for Cell Proliferation and Regulation Biology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Junzhi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Deqiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yuhao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jerry W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shay
authors.forename: Zengqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Yu-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival; D059865:Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress / Q000235:genetics; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase
keywords: ER stress; apoptosis; hTERT; telomerase