RNA interference-mediated hTERT inhibition enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis in resistant hepatocellular carcinoma cells
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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Drug-Induced Senescence in Liver Cells Promotes M2 Macrophage Polarization: Implications for Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor-Associated Hepatotoxicity
Published on: October 17, 2025
Ru-Gang Zhang1, Jing-Jing Zhao, Liu-Qin Yang
1Department of Gastroenterology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
Abstract:
TRAIL has been reported to induce apoptosis in a variety of tumor cell types including hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. However, considerable numbers of HCC cells, especially some highly malignant tumors, show resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. The molecular mechanisms that regulate sensitivity versus resistance of tumor cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis remain poorly defined. It has been shown that human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) is overexpressed in human HCCs. In this study, we investigated the effects and the mechanisms of hTERT RNAi on the TRAIL-induced apoptosis of HCC cells that exhibit resistance to TRAIL. Our results indicate that hTERT RNAi sensitizes TRAIL-resistant HCC cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. hTERT RNAi-mediated sensitization to TRAIL-induced apoptosis is accompanied up-regulation of procaspases-8 and -9, inhibition of telomerase activity and loss of telomere length. Our results suggest that hTERT RNAi overcame the resistance of the HCC cells against TRAIL, at least in part, via the mitochondrial type II apoptosis pathway and telomerase-dependent pathway.
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