Silencing of the hTERT gene through RNA interference induces apoptosis via Bax/Bcl-2 in human glioma cells

Glioma cells are characterized by their invasiveness and resistance to conventional therapeutics. The downregulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) can lead to decreased cell proliferation and/or the induction of apoptotic cell death in cancer cells but has rarely been reported in glioma cells. Here, we assessed the effect of the silencing of the hTERT gene on cell apoptosis and its possible molecular mechanism in T98G glioma cells. We found that the silencing of the hTERT gene in T98G cells significantly decreased cell proliferation and telomerase activity, increased the number of cells in G1 phase and decreased the number of cells in S phase, and induced apoptosis via decreasing the protein level of Bcl-2 and c-Myc and increasing the protein levels of Bax and p53.