Wright W E, Brasiskyte D, Piatyszek M A, Shay J W
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences 75235-9039, USA.
EMBO J. 1996 Apr 1;15(7):1734-41.
Hybrids between immortal cells that express telomerase and normal cells that lack telomerase have a limited lifespan. We demonstrate that telomerase is repressed in such hybrids. Treatment of immortal human cell lines with certain oligonucleotides resulted in telomere elongation. We took advantage of this observation to test the hypothesis that elongation of telomeres would extend the lifespan of cells in culture. An immortal human cell line was treated with an oligonucleotide to lengthen its telomeres and then was fused with mortal cells. The lifespan of these hybrid cells was longer than that of the hybrids in which telomeres had not been elongated. These observations provide the first direct evidence supporting the hypothesis that telomere length determines proliferative capacity of human cells.
表达端粒酶的永生细胞与缺乏端粒酶的正常细胞之间的杂交细胞寿命有限。我们证明在这种杂交细胞中端粒酶受到抑制。用某些寡核苷酸处理永生人类细胞系会导致端粒延长。我们利用这一观察结果来检验端粒延长会延长培养细胞寿命这一假说。用一种寡核苷酸处理一个永生人类细胞系以延长其端粒，然后将其与 mortal 细胞融合。这些杂交细胞的寿命比端粒未延长的杂交细胞更长。这些观察结果提供了首个直接证据支持端粒长度决定人类细胞增殖能力这一假说。
