Joharia Azhar Saadat, Saeeda Abdullah.
The role of non-canonical function of telomerase enzyme in the development of keratinocyte carcinogenesis.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;34(4):618-23.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the non-canonical function of telomerase renders cells resistant to cell death thus enhancing tumorogensis. To demonstrate this telomerase positive cells were treated with a Phorbol ester TPA to induce apoptosis, as it has documented in literature that TPA induces cell death in normal but not initiated cells. After these treatments the cells were assayed for cloning efficiency. Normal keratinocytes was transfected with TERT gene and after treatments with TPA were assayed again for cloning efficiency. Furthermore, to observe the process of apoptosis, cells treated with TPA and cis-platinum were assayed for caspase 3 and 7 by performing immunocytochemistry and a biochemical assay for caspase 3/7. It was demonstrated that TERT does not appear to promote cancer by making cells resistant to TPA. Immunocytochemistry gave some evidence that at least a subset of cells show caspase 3 activity after twenty four hour application of TPA. Therefore our study demonstrates that the non-canonical function does not appear to enhance tumorogensis.

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