Quantitative assessment of telomerase components in cancer cell lines.
Besides its canonical function of catalyzing the formation of telomeric repeats, many groups have recently reported non-canonical functions of hTERT in particular, and telomerase in general. Regulating transcription is the central basis of non-canonical functions of telomerase. However, unlike reverse transcriptase activity of telomerase that requires only a few molecules of enzymatically active hTERT, non-canonical functions of hTERT or other telomerase components theoretically require several hundred copies. Here, we provide the first direct quantification of all the telomerase components in human cancer cell lines. We demonstrate that telomerase components do not exist in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio, and there are several hundred copies of hTERT in cells. This provides the molecular basis of hTERT to function in other signaling cascades, including transcription.
Laboratory of NF-κB Signaling, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore; Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 117597, Singapore.
Semih Can
SC
Akıncılar
Laboratory of NF-κB Signaling, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
Kee Chung
KC
Low
Laboratory of NF-κB Signaling, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore.
Chia Yi
CY
Liu
Program in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore.
Ting Dong
TD
Yan
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Asami
A
Oji
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Masahito
M
Ikawa
Program in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore.
Shang
S
Li
Laboratory of NF-κB Signaling, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore; Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: vinayt@imcb.a-star.edu.sg.
Vinay
V
Tergaonkar
D015153:Blotting, Western; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006367:HeLa Cells; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding; D034622:RNA Interference; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
D019098:Telomerase
Human telomerase RNA; Human telomerase reverse transcriptase; Quantification; Telomerase; Telomerase components; Transcription