Abstract. Human telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex composed of at least the reverse catalytic transcriptase hTERT and RNA component hTR. The enzyme stabilizes telomere length and thereby contributes to unlimited cell proliferation, i.e. immortality. Reactivation of telomerase activity during carcinogenesis is a common hallmark in most human tumor types. Consequently, telomerase is an attractive molecular target toward which to direct cancer therapeutic agents. RNA interference (RNAi) has been shown to be an effective method for inhibiting the expression of a given gene in human cells by targeting with short duplex RNA (short-interfering RNA or siRNA). Thus, we evaluated the ability of siRNAs to inhibit telomerase activity in the HT29 immortal human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line as a model for colorectal carcinogenesis. By transient expression of a specific siRNA directed against hTERT, we reduced telomerase activity in the transfected cells. Moreover, telomere lengths were reduced in cells stably expressing this particular RNA sequence, cloned as an shRNA into an eukaryotic expression vector. The cell clone that displayed a telomerasenegative phenotype showed dramatically reduced telomere lengths and stopped proliferation. We observed that the vector was integrated into the cell genome and, despite telomere shortening, cells retained their MSI phenotype. We conclude that we have developed a potent telomerase inhibitor leading to cell death.

We have verified the presence of line-1 retrotransposon (L1) in plasma DNA in 15/17 brain tumor (glioma) patients and in 6/6 healthy people by applying PCR amplification of part of the L1 5' end. The same samples were separately amplified for K-ras. Results suggested that L1 sequences are circulating throughout the body. We hypothesized the participation of transposable elements such as L1 in a putative DNA release mechanism.

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