The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Specific Association of Human Telomerase Activity with Immortal Cells and Cancer
Abstract
Synthesis of DNA at chromosome ends by telomerase may be necessary for indefinite proliferation of human cells. A highly sensitive assay for measuring telomerase activity was developed. In cultured cells representing 18 different human tissues, 98 of 100 immortal and none of 22 mortal populations were positive for telomerase. Similarly, 90 of 101 biopsies representing 12 human tumor types and none of 50 normal somatic tissues were positive. Normal ovaries and testes were positive, but benign tumors such as fibroids were negative. Thus, telomerase appears to be stringently repressed in normal human somatic tissues but reactivated in cancer, where immortal cells are likely required to maintain tumor growth.
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In the citing paper
“Furthermore, although most human cancers (~90%) escape telomere crisis by activating telomerase56, a significant minority of cancers use an alternative telomere maintenance system, referred to as alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT)161.”
From Telomeres in cancer: tumour suppression and genome instability (2017) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“The notion that telomere function may indeed be required for immortalization is supported by the frequent activation of telomerase or ALT in human cancers (Kim et al. 1994; Bryan et al. 1995”
From p53 Deficiency Rescues the Adverse Effects of Telomere Loss and Cooperates with Telomere Dysfunction to Accelerate Carcinogenesis (1999) · cites this paper as Kim et al. 1994
In the citing paper
“Telomerase activation is observed in approximately 90% of human cancers, irrespective of tumor type, while most normal tissues contain inactivated telomerase.(1)”
From Understanding and exploiting hTERT promoter regulation for diagnosis and treatment of human cancers (2008) · cites this paper as [1]
In the citing paper
“This idea is consistent with the fact that telomerase activity is upregulated in most human cancers, which probably contributes to sustaining their immortality7.”
From The telomere syndromes (2012) · cites this paper as [7]
In the citing paper
“Virally transformed human cells that eliminate p53 and/or pRB function can escape crisis at very low frequencies, and invariably adopt telomere-maintenance programs: 80-90% of human tumors possess some telomerase activity, while the remainder maintain telomeres via a recombination-mediated process termed ALT (for Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres)37-40.”
From Telomere dysfunction and tumour suppression: the senescence connection (2008) · cites this paper as [38]
In the citing paper
“Telomere maintenance is essential to the replicative potential of malignant cells and the inhibition of telomerase can lead to telomere shortening and cessation of unrestrained proliferation.”
From A highly selective telomerase inhibitor limiting human cancer cell proliferation (2001) · cites this paper as Kim et al., 1994
In the citing paper
“Telomerase, the ribonucleoprotein enzyme maintaining the telomeres of eukaryotic chromosomes, is active in most human cancers and in germline cells but, with few exceptions, not in normal human somatic tissues.”
From A highly selective telomerase inhibitor limiting human cancer cell proliferation (2001) · cites this paper as Kim et al., 1994
In the citing paper
“In cancer cells, the reactivation of telomerase is thought to stabilize telomere length, thereby compensating for the cell division-related telomere erosion and providing unlimited proliferative capacity to malignant cells (Counter et al., 1992;Kim et al., 1994).”
From A highly selective telomerase inhibitor limiting human cancer cell proliferation (2001) · cites this paper as Kim et al., 1994
In the citing paper
“Telomerase activity has been demonstrated in immortalized cell lines and in 80±90% of human cancer specimens representing a range of cancer types (Counter et al., 1994;Kim et al., 1994;Shay and Bacchetti, 1997)”
From A highly selective telomerase inhibitor limiting human cancer cell proliferation (2001) · cites this paper as Kim et al., 1994
In the citing paper
“Telomerase activity has been found in almost all human tumors but not in adjacent normal cells (3, 4).”
From Inhibition of human telomerase in immortal human cells leads to progressive telomere shortening and cell death (1999) · cites this paper as [3]
In the citing paper
“Over the last decade it has become clear that most human cancers activate telomerase at some point during tumorigenesis, while this activity is largely absent in most normal tissues 70, 71 .”
From The common biology of cancer and ageing (2007) · cites this paper as [70]
Citations
Cites
Telomeres shorten during ageing of human fibroblasts
Harley, C. B., Futcher, A. B., & Greider, C. W. (1990) · Nature · doi:10.1038/345458a0 · Cited by 5,750
Self-citationStructure and function of telomeres
Blackburn, E. H. (1991) · Nature · doi:10.1038/350569a0 · Cited by 3,596
Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in tetrahymena extracts
Greider, C. W., & Blackburn, E. H. (1985) · Cell · doi:10.1016/0092-8674(85)90170-9 · Cited by 3,400
Moyzis, R. K., Buckingham, J. M., Cram, L. S., Dani, M. A. C., Deaven, L. L., Jones, M. D., Meyne, J., Ratliff, R. L., & Wu, J. R. (1988) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.85.18.6622 · Cited by 2,326
Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts.
Allsopp, R. C., Vaziri, H., Patterson, C., Goldstein, S., Younglai, E. V., Futcher, A. B., Greider, C. W., & Harley, C. B. (1992) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.89.21.10114 · Cited by 2,200
Self-citationCounter, C. M., Avilion, A. A., LeFeuvre, C. E., Stewart, N. G., Greider, C. W., Harley, C. B., & Bacchetti, S. (1992) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05245.x · Cited by 2,096
Self-citationOlovnikov (1973) · doi:10.1016/0022-5193(73)90198-7 · Cited by 1,847
Telomere reduction in human colorectal carcinoma and with ageing
Hastie, N. D., Dempster, M., Dunlop, M. G., Thompson, A. M., Green, D. K., & Allshire, R. C. (1990) · Nature · doi:10.1038/346866a0 · Cited by 1,650
A telomeric sequence in the RNA of Tetrahymena telomerase required for telomere repeat synthesis
Greider, C. W., & Blackburn, E. H. (1989) · Nature · doi:10.1038/337331a0 · Cited by 1,643
Morin, G. B. (1989) · Cell · doi:10.1016/0092-8674(89)90035-4 · Cited by 1,495
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- GARNICK, M.B., THE DILEMMAS OF PROSTATE-CANCER, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 270: 72 (1994).
- WATSON, J. D., NATURE-NEW BIOLOGY 239: 197 (1972).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A biomarker that identifies senescent human cells in culture and in aging skin in vivo.
Dimri, G. P., Lee, X., Basile, G., Acosta, M., Scott, G., Roskelley, C., Medrano, E. E., Linskens, M., Rubelj, I., & Pereira-Smith, O. (1995) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.92.20.9363 · Cited by 7,477
Extension of Life-Span by Introduction of Telomerase into Normal Human Cells
Bodnar, A. G., Ouellette, M., Frolkis, M., Holt, S. E., Chiu, C.-P., Morin, G. B., Harley, C. B., Shay, J. W., Lichtsteiner, S., & Wright, W. E. (1998) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.279.5349.349 · Cited by 4,975
Self-citationGold Nanoparticles in Chemical and Biological Sensing
Saha, K., Agasti, S. S., Kim, C., Li, X., & Rotello, V. M. (2012) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr2001178 · Cited by 4,637
A survey of telomerase activity in human cancer
Shay, J. W., & Bacchetti, S. (1997) · European Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1016/s0959-8049(97)00062-2 · Cited by 2,794
Self-citationMultiplexed electrical detection of cancer markers with nanowire sensor arrays
Zheng, G., Patolsky, F., Cui, Y., Wang, W. U., & Lieber, C. M. (2005) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt1138 · Cited by 2,461
“Telomerase activity has been found in at least 80% of all known human cancer”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Kim, N. W., Piatyszek, M. A., Prowse, K. R., Harley, C. B., West, M. D., Ho, P. L. C., Coviello, G. M., Wright, W. E., Weinrich, S. L., & Shay, J. W.
- Affiliations
- Geron (United States) (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1994-12-23
- Volume
- 266
- Issue
- 5193
- Pages
- 2011-2015
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2000971601
- Cited by
- 7,091
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 104 · 2024: 109 · 2023: 175 · 2022: 140 · 2021: 209 · 2020: 182 · 2019: 181 · 2018: 208 · 2017: 209 · 2016: 235 · 2015: 232 · 2014: 228 · 2013: 222 · 2012: 235
- FWCI
- 85.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1r43ca065178-01, 5r01ca050195-05)
- National Institute on Aging (AG07992, R01AG007992)
- National Cancer Institute (CA 50195, CA65178)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer-related Molecular Pathways
- Keywords
- telomerase, telomerase activity assay, cellular immortality, cancer, tumor growth, telomere synthesis, benign tumors, cell proliferation
- MeSH terms
- Base Sequence, Cell Division, Cell Line, Cell Line, Transformed, DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase, Enzyme Activation, Enzyme Repression, Female, Humans, Male, Molecular Sequence Data, Neoplasms, Ovary, Testis, Tumor Cells, Cultured, Polymerase Chain Reaction
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