A Common Cancer Risk-Associated Allele in the Locus Encodes a Dominant Negative Inhibitor of Telomerase

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Multiple cancer-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with risk of a wide variety of cancers have been identified in the TERT-CLPTM1L region of 5p15.33, identifying this as a multi-cancer susceptibility locus. hTERT encodes the catalytic subunit of the enzyme telomerase, which is responsible for telomere length maintenance in the germline and in most immortalised cancer cells. To date, very little is known regarding the mechanisms by which specific hTERT SNPs predispose to cancer. In this study, we carried out detailed functional analyses on the intron 4 SNP rs10069690, which is associated with a small, but highly significant risk for many types of cancer. We show that the risk-associated minor allele of this SNP results in an hTERT mRNA splice variant, encoding a catalytically inactive protein which acts as a dominant negative inhibitor of telomerase activity and therefore decreases total telomerase activity. We propose that individuals who carry the rs10069690 minor allele have less telomerase activity in some cell types due to cell type-specific alternative splicing, which may result in slightly shorter telomeres, and hence an increased risk of genetic instability and tumorigenesis.

Vyšlo v časopise: A Common Cancer Risk-Associated Allele in the Locus Encodes a Dominant Negative Inhibitor of Telomerase. PLoS Genet 11(6): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005286
Kategorie: Research Article
prolekare.web.journal.doi_sk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005286

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