Experiments were performed in order to estabilish whether the observed up-regulation of telomerase activity mediated by saquinavir was the consequence of an increased expression of the catalytic subunit hTERT. Therefore, cells were exposed to saquinavir for 48 h, lysed as described in Material and Method section and separated by SDS-PAGE. This time point was chosen after time course experiments were run in order to determine the best interval for this observation. Results exposed in Figure 2A show that saquinavir

was able to increase hTERT total level in Jurkat cells. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider that the up-regulated levels buy VX-809 of telomerase activity observed in drug-treated Jurkat cells could be the consequence of the increased levels of catalytic subunit hTERT. These results were confirmed by pooled data obtained from 3 different experiments (Figure 2B). This observation was also confirmed at transcriptional level. mRNA expression of hTERT was analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR in Jurkat controls and in saquinavir-treated cells. Twenty-four and 48 hours after stimulation, RNA was extracted and RT-PCR assay was performed to detect hTERT mRNA. Saquinavir was able to up-regulate hTERT mRNA expression according to the results obtained in the experiment illustrated

in Figure 2C and in the pooled results relative to 3 separate experiments (Figure 2D). These results were further confirmed by quantitative Real Time-PCR experiments performed after 24 hours Verteporfin nmr following see more exposure to the drug and illustrated in Figure 2E. Figure 2 Effect of saquinavir on hTERT expression. A. Representative experiment showing the effect of saquinavir (15 μM) on hTERT expression tested on whole cell extracts from

2×106 viable CD4+ Jurkat cells 48 h following treatment (Western C-X-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CXCR-7) Blot). Gel loading control was based on GAPDH expression. Saquinavir increases hTERT levels in Jurkat cells. B. Graph shows the mean ± SD of the ratio hTERT/GAPDH band intensity obtained by pooling the results from 3 independent experiments. C. Representative gel showing the effect of saquinavir on hTERT mRNA in Jurkat cell line, determined after 24 and 48 h of treatment, using RT-PCR. GAPDH was used as internal control. Saquinavir up-regulates hTERT mRNA transcription. D. Graphs show the mean ± SD of OD for 3 independent RT-PCR experiments. E. Effect of saquinavir on hTERT mRNA expression of Jurkat cells 24 hours following treatment analysed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Levels of hTERT are normalized against GAPDH housekeeping expression. The graph shows the difference in terms of gene expression working out the Delta Delta CT algorithm between TERT and the housekeeping GAPDH. Data shown are representative of 2 independent experiments. All p values were calculated using one-way paired Student’s t-test. Asterisk indicates p < 0.05.