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PMID: 9637678 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Myc activates telomerase.

Genes & development ·Vol. 12 ·No. 12 ·1998-06-15 ·Pages 1769-74

Wang J, Xie LY, Allan S, Beach D, Hannon GJ

Abstract

Telomere maintenance has been proposed as an essential prerequisite to human tumor development. The telomerase enzyme is itself a marker for tumor cells, but the genetic alterations that activate the enzyme during neoplastic transformation have remained a mystery. Here, we show that Myc induces telomerase in both normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) and normal human diploid fibroblasts. Myc increases expression of hEST2 (hTRT/TP2), the limiting subunit of telomerase, and both Myc and hEST2 can extend the life span of HMECs. The ability of Myc to activate telomerase may contribute to its ability to promote tumor formation.

MeSH Terms
Cell Division/physiology Cell Line DNA-Binding Proteins Enzyme Activation/genetics Gene Expression/genetics Humans Proteins/genetics Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc/genetics,physiology RNA RNA, Messenger/metabolism Recombinant Proteins/genetics Telomerase/genetics Tumor Cells, Cultured/enzymology
Chemicals
DNA-Binding Proteins Proteins Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc RNA, Messenger Recombinant Proteins telomerase RNA RNA TERT protein, human Telomerase
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Wang J
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.
Xie L Y
Allan S
Beach D
Hannon G J
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Article Info
Journal
Genes & development
Abbr.
Genes Dev
ISSN
0890-9369
DOI
10.1101/gad.12.12.1769
Published
1998-06-15
Pages
1769-74
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8711660
PMCID
PMC316904
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA140988 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1101/gad.12.12.1769 PMC Full Text View journal details
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