Transcriptional activation of hTERT through the NF-κB pathway in HTLV-I–transformed cells

Abstract excerpt

In immortal cells, the existence of a mechanism for the maintenance of telomere length is critical. In most cases this is achieved by the reactivation of telomerase, a cellular reverse transcriptase that prevents telomere shortening. Here we report that the telomerase gene (hTERT) promoter is up-regulated during transmission of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) to primary T cells in vitro and in ex...