Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that maintains protective structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Earlier studies have reported that the presence of telomerase activity in tumors of patients with non-small cell lung cancer patients correlates with a high proliferation rate and advanced pathological stage. Thus, the modification of telomerase activity may be a potential therapeutic modality for the treatment of lung and other cancers. We introduced vectors encoding dominant negative (DN)-hTERT, or wild-type (WT)-hTERT, or a control vector expressing only a drug-resistance marker, into the A549 lung cancer cell line, and assessed the biological effect of telomerase inhibition on cellular immortality. Ectopic expression of DN-hTERT resulted in complete inhibition of telomerase activity and reduction of telomere length. The entire population of telomerase-inhibited A549 cells exhibited cytoplasmic blebbling and chromatin condensation, which are features of apoptosis. In contrast, A549 cells expressing wild-type hTERT, which differs from the mutants by only two amino acids, exhibited normal morphology. Evidence for apoptosis in the telomerase-inhibited cells was provided by flow cytometric analysis with APO2.7 monoclonal antibody. We also observed enhanced induction of apoptosis by chemotherapeutic reagents, including cisplatin, docetaxel and etoposide, in DN-hTERT-expressing A549 cells, as compared with WT-hTERT-expressing cells. These results demonstrate that disruption of telomere maintenance limits the cellular lifespan of lung cancer cells, and show that the combined use of chemotherapeutic agents and telomere maintenance inhibition may be effective in the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

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