hEST2は,ヒトのテロメラーゼ触媒サブユニット遺伝子の推定値であり,腫瘍細胞および不死の過程で上位調節されます

M Meyerson¹, C M Counter, E N Eaton

¹Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02142, USA.

Cell

|August 22, 1997

まとめ

研究者らは,テロメラーゼ活性化に不可欠なヒト遺伝子hEST2を特定した. この遺伝子は,この遺伝子を

科学分野:

分子生物学は分子生物学である.
腫瘍学腫瘍学
遺伝学遺伝学とは

背景:

テロメラーゼはテロメア維持に不可欠ですが,通常は正常なヒト体細胞で抑制されます.
テロメラーゼの活性化は,がんの発症と細胞不死化の特徴である.
テロメラーゼの調節を理解することは,がん研究にとって極めて重要です.

研究の目的:

テロメラーゼ活性に責任を負うヒトの遺伝子を特定し,特徴づけること.
細胞の不死化と腫瘍の進行におけるこの遺伝子の役割を調査する.

主な方法:

ヒトの遺伝子hEST2のクローニングは,既知のテロメラーゼ触媒サブユニットとの配列類似性に基づいています.
様々なヒト組織,がん細胞系,培養細胞におけるhEST2遺伝子発現の分析.
hEST2発現レベルと,細胞の不死化と分化中のテロメラーゼ活性との相関.

主要な成果:

クローン化されたヒトの遺伝子であるhEST2は,テロメラーゼの触媒サブユニットと有意な配列の類似性を示しています.
hEST2は,原発性腫瘍,がん細胞系,テロメラーゼ陽性組織において高い発現率を有する.
hEST2の発現は,正常な体細胞やテロメラーゼ陰性組織では検出されず,そのレベルは,不死化と分化中のテロメラーゼ活性化と相関しています.

結論:

hEST2遺伝子はヒトテロメラーゼ複合体の成分をコードする.
hEST2 mRNA発現の誘導は,細胞不死化と腫瘍進行におけるテロメラーゼ活性化に必要な重要なイベントです.
hEST2は,がん治療における潜在的な治療目標である.

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