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Cited by 180

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Is a Novel Target of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Human Cancer

Open access
Zhang, Yong, Toh, LingLing, Lau, Peishan, Wang, Xueying·2012·Journal of Biological Chemistry

Abstract

Telomerase activation plays a critical role in human carcinogenesis through the maintenance of telomeres, but the activation mechanism during carcinogenesis remains unclear. The human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter has been shown to promote hTERT gene expression selectively in tumor cells but not in normal cells. Deregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is reported to be associated with human carcinogenesis. However, little is known about whether the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is involved in activating hTERT transcription and inducing telomerase activity (TA). In this study, we report that hTERT is a novel target of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Transient activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway either by transfection of a constitutively active form of β-catenin or by LiCl or Wnt-3a conditioned medium treatment induced hTERT mRNA expression and elevated TA in different cell lines. Furthermore, we found that silencing endogenous β-catenin expression by β-catenin gene-specific shRNA effectively decreased hTERT expression, suppressed TA, and accelerated telomere shortening. Of the four members of the lymphoid-enhancing factor (LEF)/T-cell factor (TCF) family, only TCF4 showed more effective stimulation on the hTERT promoter. Ectopic expression of a dominant negative form of TCF4 inhibited hTERT expression in cancer cells. Through promoter mapping, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we found that hTERT is a direct target of β-catenin·TCF4-mediated transcription and that the TCF4 binding site at the hTERT promoter is critical for β-catenin·TCF4-dependent expression regulation. Given the pivotal role of telomerase in carcinogenesis, these results may offer insight into the regulation of telomerase in human cancer.

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Metadata

Authors
Zhang, Y., Toh, L., Lau, P., & Wang, X.
Venue
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-09
Volume
287
Issue
39
Pages
32494-32511
ISSN
0021-9258 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2138171776
Cited by
180
References
12
FWCI
9.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Is a Novel Target of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Human Cancer. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1074/jbc.m112.368282
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Zhang, Y., Toh, L., Lau, P., & Wang, X. (2012). Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Is a Novel Target of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Human Cancer. Journal of Biological Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.m112.368282

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