Published in:
01-12-2013 | Correspondence
TERT promoter mutations rather than methylation are the main mechanism for TERT upregulation in adult gliomas
Authors:
Hideyuki Arita, Yoshitaka Narita, Hirokazu Takami, Shintaro Fukushima, Yuko Matsushita, Akihiko Yoshida, Yasuji Miyakita, Makoto Ohno, Soichiro Shibui, Koichi Ichimura
Published in:
Acta Neuropathologica
|
Issue 6/2013
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Excerpt
Telomere lengthening (TL) is mandatory for infinite proliferation of many cancer cells. This is generally achieved either by telomerase activation or in some cases by telomerase-independent alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) [
3]. Recently, recurrent mutations at two hotspots termed C228T and C250T in the promoter region of
TERT, a catalytic subunit of telomerase, have been reported in various types of cancers [
1,
6,
7,
9,
12]. These mutations result in upregulation of
TERT expression [
1,
7], which is required for telomerase activation [
11].
TERT promoter mutations are particularly common in adult gliomas [
1,
9]. It is also known that a subset of astrocytomas harbors mutations of
ATRX, which could lead to ALT [
10]. …
