The effect of the telomerase antagonist Imetelstat in esophageal carcinoma

• Telomerase is mainly active in human tumor cells, which provides an opportunity for a therapeutic window on telomerase targeting. We sought to evaluate the potential of the thio-phosphoramidate oligonucleotide inhibitor of telomerase, Imetelstat, as a drug candidate for treatment of esophageal cancer. Our results showed that Imetelstat inhibited telomerase activity in a dose-dependent manner in esophageal cancer cells. After only one week of Imetelstat treatment, a reduction of colony formation ability of esophageal cancer cells was observed. Furthermore, long-term treatment with Imetelstat decreased cell growth of esophageal cancer cells with different kinetics regarding telomere lengths. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated that short-term treatment with Imetelstat resulted in increased percentage of cells in G1 phase. Short-term Imetelstat treatment also increased γ-H2AX and 53BP1 foci staining in the esophageal cancer cell lines indicating a possible induction of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). We also found that pre-treatment with Imetelstat led to increased number and size of 53BP1 foci after ionizing radiation. The increase of 53BP1 foci number was especially pronounced during the first 1 h of repair whereas the increase of foci size was prominent later on. This study supports the potential of Imetelstat as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of esophageal cancer.

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