Modulation of Telomerase Activity and Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Expression by Caspases and Bcl -2 Family Proteins in Cisplatin-Induced Cell Death

Abstract

Human telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein polymerase, which synthesizes telomeric repeat sequences, and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) has been identified as the catalytic subunit, as well as the rate-limiting component, of telomerase. In this study, we attempted to identify the modulators of telomerase, and to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying cisplatin-induced apoptosis.