REVIEW: The TERT Promoter: A Key Player in the Fight for Cancer Cell Immortality

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Tsimur N. Hasanau¹, Eduard P. Pisarev^1,2, Olga V. Kisil³, and Maria E. Zvereva^1,a*

¹Natural Compounds Department, Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia

²Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia

³Gause Institute of New Antibiotics, 119021 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received August 3, 2022; Revised October 3, 2022; Accepted October 7, 2022

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The review describes the role of telomeres and telomerase in tumor progression, as well as various mechanisms of the activation of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) expression in CNS tumors and other cancers. The main mechanism of TERT activation involves acquisition of somatic mutations by the TERT gene promoter (TERTp). The article presents information on the TERTp structure and transcription factors directly interacting with TERTp and regulating its transcription. The prospects of using the mutational status of TERTp as a prognostic marker of CNS malignancies and other tumors with a common profile of TERTp mutations are discussed.

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KEY WORDS: CNS tumors, telomeres, telomerase, telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter region, transcription factors, regulation of expression, somatic mutations

DOI: 10.1134/S000629792314002X

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