Telomeres control human telomerase (<i>TERT</i>) expression through non-telomeric TRF2.

ABSTRACT: The function of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (referred hereafter as TERT) in the synthesis and maintenance of chromosome ends, or telomeres, is widely understood. Whether and how telomeres, on the other hand, influence TERT regulation is relatively less studied. We found TERT was transcriptionally altered depending on telomere length (TL). This resulted from TL-dependent binding of TRF2 between telomeres and the TERT promoter. TERT promoter-bound TRF2 was non-telomeric and did not involve the looping of telomeres to the TERT promoter. Cell lines from different tissue types fibrosarcoma (HT1080), colon cancer (HCT116), and breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), engineered for either telomere elongation/shortening, gave an increase/decrease in

SUBMITTER: Sengupta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12483519 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature