Authors: Stefanie Jaitner, Jana A. Reiche, Achim J. Schäffauer, Elke Hiendlmeyer, Hermann Herbst, Thomas Brabletz, Thomas Kirchner and Andreas Jung

Stefanie Jaitner

Corresponding author: stefanie.jaitner@med.uni-muenchen.de
Pathologisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; München, Germany

Jana A. Reiche

Pathologisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; München, Germany

Achim J. Schäffauer

Pathologisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; München, Germany

Elke Hiendlmeyer

Kantonsspital St.Gallen; St.Gallen, Switzerland

Hermann Herbst

Vivantes Klinikum Neukölln; Berlin, Germany

Thomas Brabletz

Department of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center of the School of Medicine of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität; Freiburg, Germany

Thomas Kirchner

Pathologisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; München, Germany

Andreas Jung

Pathologisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität; München, Germany

Abstract:
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 β-catenin. After translocation into the nucleus, it acts as a transcription factor resulting in the expression of β-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 β-catenin as c-Myc is a β-catenin target gene. Interestingly, the expression patterns of hTERT and β-catenin, but not c-Myc are overlapping, probably because c-Myc is not only regulated by β-catenin, but also by many other transcription factors and pathways. Therefore, we argued that hTERT might be a direct target gene of β-catenin. In this study, we show evidence that β-catenin directly regulates the expression of the hTERT gene.

Received: July 27, 2012; Accepted: August 8, 2012; Published Online: August 16, 2012

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