Inhibition of Proliferation and Induction of Apoptosis in Human Renal Carcinoma Cells by Anti-telomerase Small Interfering RNAs

Telomerase is an attractive molecular target for cancer therapy because it is present in mostmalignant cells but is undetectable in most normal somatic cells.Human telomerase consists of two subunits,an RNA component(hTR)and a human telomerase reverse transcriptase component(hTERT).Smallinterfering RNA(siRNA),one kind of RNA interferences,has been demonstrated to be an effective methodto inhibit target gene expression in human cells.We investigated the effects of siRNA targeting at both hTRand hTERT mRNA on the inhibition of telomerase activity in human renal carcinoma cells(HRCCs).Theproliferation and apoptosis of HRCCs were examined.The treatment of HRCCs using hTR and hTERTsiRNAs resulted in significant decrease of hTR mRNA,hTERT mRNA and hTERT protein.The siRNA canalso inhibit the telomerase activity and the proliferation of HRCCs.Moreover,they can induce apoptotic celldeath in a dose-dependent manner.From these findings,we propose that the inhibition of telomerase activityusing siRNA targeting hTR and hTERT might be a rational approach in renal cancer therapy.