hTERT promotes cell adhesion and migration independent of telomerase activity

hTERT, a catalytic component of human telomerase, is undetectable in normal somatic cells but up-regulated in cancer and stem cells where telomere length is maintained by telomerase. Accumulated evidence indicates that hTERT may have noncanonical functions beyond telomerase by regulating the expression of particular genes. However, comprehensive identification of the genes regulated by hTERT is unavailable. In this report, we expressed WT hTERT and hTERTmut which displays dysfunctional catalytic activity, in human U2OS cancer cells and VA-13 immortalized fibroblast cells, both of which lack endogenous hTERT and hTR expression. Changes in gene expression induced by hTERT and hTERT-mut expression were determined by genome-wide RNA-seq and verified by qPCR. Our results showed that hTERT affects different genes in two cell lines, implying that the regulation of gene expression by hTERT is indirect and cell type dependent. Moreover, functional analysis identifies cell adhesion-related genes that have been changed by hTERT in both cell lines. Adhesion experiments revealed that hTERT expression significantly increases cell adhesion. Monolayer wound healing and transwell assays demonstrated increased cell migration upon hTERT expression. These results provide new evidence to support a noncanonical function for hTERT in promoting tumorigenesis.