Antisense telomerase RNA induced human gastric cancer cell apoptosis

Human tissue homeostasis is precisely regulated by cellular division, differentiation and death. Normal human somatic cells progressively lose telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length with each successive cell division, eventually leading to cellular quiescence, chromosomal end-degradation and apoptosis[1]. On the contrary, stabilization of telomere lengths by expressing telomerase, a n RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, may be involved in cellular immortality and carcinogenesis[2-4]. Changes of telomerase activity and telomere lengths have been found in almost all human cancers[4-10], but the evidence of their relationship with immortalization of cancers cell remain to be directly demonstrated. Since shortened telomere was first discovered in Hela cells with antisense RNA techniques in 1995[11], anticancer agents based on inhibition of telomerase RNA have been reported[12,13]. However, the relationship between telomerase inhibition and cell apoptosis has not been fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of blocking telomerase activity on apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells in vitro using an antisense vector for human telomerase RNA component (hTR) into human gastric cancer cells.