Silencing telomerase gene expression in HeLa by small hairpin RNA in vitro

Objective To investigate the interfering effect of the small hairpin RNA(shRNA) targeted to human telomere retrotranscriptase(hTERT) gene and its silence effect on telomerase hTERT gene expression in HeLa cells.Methods After preparation of the shRNA in-vitro,the shRNA was transfected to HeLa cells by the calcium phosphate method.Telomerase activity was detected by TRAP-silver stain and PCR-EIA.Results The telomerase activity of HeLa cells decreased significiantly after transfected with the 46-base small hairpin RNA.Conclusions shRNA(targeted to human telomerase hTERT gene) prepared by this method displays a significant silence effect on telomerase gene expression.It could be a new approach of obtaining shRNA for RNAi research in tumor inhibition.