Table 1.
TERT cancer models in mice and zebrafish.
| Gene (Animal) | Site Specificity | Expression * | Result ** | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tert (mouse) | Thymocytes and peripheral T cells | + | ↑ T-Cell Lymphomas | [16] |
| Tert (mouse) | Basal keratinocytes | + | ↑ skin papillomas (DMBA + TPA induction) | [17] |
| Tert (mouse) | Whole body | + | ↑ mammary tumors in aged females | [18] |
| tert and terc (zebrafish) | Neural progenitor cells | + | ↓ aggressiveness of RAS-mediated brain tumors | [27] |
| Tert (mouse) | Whole body | − | Delayed onset of lymphomas in EμMYC mice | [20] |
| Tert (mouse) | Whole body | − | Delayed onset of mammary tumors in PyMT mice | [19] |
| Tert (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↓ HCC “initiation foci” (CCl4 induction) | [21] |
| Terc (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↑ HCC “initiation foci” but ↓ HCC progression (uPA, CCl4 or DEN induction) | [22] |
| Terc (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↑ tumors (lymphomas, teratocarcinomas, HCC, squamous cell carcinoma) | [26] |
| Terc (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↓ skin papillomas (DMBA + TPA induction) | [28] |
| Terc (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↑ epithelial cancers in TP53−/− mice | [29] |
| Terc (mouse) | Whole body | − | ↑ adenoma initiation but ↓ progression in ApcMin mice | [30] |
| terthu3430 (zebrafish) | Whole body | − | Earlier onset of tumors (germ cell tumors, hematopoietic neoplasms, HCA, etc.) | [23] |
| terthu3430 (zebrafish) | Whole body | − | ↑ tumor incidence and aggressiveness of melanoma model *** | [31] |
*: +, gene overexpression; −, gene knockout or knockdown. **: ↑, increased; ↓, decreased. *** mitfa: HRAS (gives rise to melanomas) blastula cells transplanted into tert−/− casper embryos. Abbreviations: DMBA, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene; TPA, 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate; PyMT, polyomavirus middle T oncogene; CCl4, carbon tetrachloride; uPA, urokinase plasminogen activator; DEN, diethylnitrosamine; HCA, hepatocellular adenoma; Apc, adenomatous polyposis coli; ApcMin, multiple intestinal neoplasia (mutant) allele of Apc gene; and terthu3430, tert mutant line (allele hu3430) with a non-sense mutation resulting in a premature stop codon in exon 2 of tert gene.