Immortalized Cells with No Detectable Telomerase Activity. A Review

R. R. Reddel,^1,2 T. M. Bryan,^1,3 and J. P. Murnane⁴

¹Children's Medical Research Institute, 214 Hawkesbury Rd., Westmead, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia; fax: +61-2-9687-2120; E-mail: rreddel@mail.usyd.edu.au

²To whom correspondence should be addressed.

³Current address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, HHMI, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA.

⁴Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, 1855 Folsom St., University of California, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA; fax: +1 (415) 476-9069; E-mail: murnane@rorl.ucsf.edu

Submitted July 28, 1997.

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Immortalization of human cells in culture is usually associated with expression of telomerase activity. In some cases, however, no telomerase activity is detectable even though comparison of the terminal restriction fragment (TRF) pattern before and after immortalization shows that lengthening of telomeres has occurred. The extreme heterogeneity in telomere length and the differences in the dynamics of telomere maintenance in telomerase-negative cell lines compared to telomerase-positive cell lines indicate that these cells have utilized one or more alternative mechanisms for lengthening of telomeres (ALT). All telomerase-negative immortalized cell lines examined to date show evidence of ALT activity, consistent with the hypothesis that telomere maintenance either by telomerase or by ALT is required for immortalization. The nature of the ALT mechanism(s) is currently unknown, but studies of telomere dynamics in an ALT cell line containing a marker just proximal to the telomeric sequences show gradual shortening of the telomere followed by rapid elongation. This is consistent with a non-reciprocal recombinational mechanism similar to that found in telomerase-defective mutant yeast strains.

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KEY WORDS: telomeres, alternative lengthening of telomeres, ALT, telomerase, senescence, crisis, terminal proliferation arrest.

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