Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is a target gene of β-catenin in human colorectal tumors

The majority of colorectal cancers (CRCs) are characterized by a dysregulated canonical Wnt-signaling pathway leading to the stabilization and subsequent cellular increase and accumulation of beta-catenin. After translocation into the nucleus, it acts as a transcription factor resulting in the expression of beta-catenin target genes. These resemble most of the hallmarks of cancer except eternal life. The central mediator of this hallmark is hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase). The hTERT gene is regulated, besides others, by the transcription factor c-Myc and, thus, indirectly via beta-catenin as c-Myc is a beta-catenin target gene. Interestingly, the expression patterns of hTERT and beta-catenin, but not c-Myc are overlapping, probably because c-Myc is not only regulated by beta-catenin, but also by many other transcription factors and pathways. Therefore, we argued that hTERT might be a direct target gene of beta-catenin. In this study, we show evidence that beta-catenin directly regulates the expression of the hTERT gene.