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The repression of telomerase activity during cellular differentiation promotes replicative aging and functions as a physiological barrier for tumorigenesis in long-lived mammals, including humans. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here we describe how miR-615-3p represses hTERT expression. mir-615-3p is located in an intron of the HOXC5 gene, a member of the highly conserved homeobox family of transcription factors controlling embryogenesis and development. Unexpectedly, we found that HoxC5 also represses hTERT expression by disrupting the long-range interaction between hTERT promoter and its distal enhancer. The 3'UTR of hTERT and its upstream enhancer region are well conserved in long-lived primates. Both mir-615-3p and HOXC5 are activated upon differentiation, which constitute a feed-forward loop that coordinates transcriptional and post-transcriptional repression of hTERT during cellular differentiation. Deregulation of HOXC5 and mir-615-3p expression may contribute to the activation of hTERT in human cancers.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s41467-017-02601-1

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nat Commun

Publication Date

08/01/2018

Volume

9

Keywords

3' Untranslated Regions, 5' Untranslated Regions, Animals, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, HEK293 Cells, HeLa Cells, Hep G2 Cells, Homeodomain Proteins, Humans, MCF-7 Cells, Mice, MicroRNAs, Neoplasms, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Telomerase