ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2015
The role of telomerase protein TERT in Alzheimer's disease and in tau-related pathology in vitro.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of Telomere Length in Alzheimer's Disease.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2016Pooled it
- Research Progress on Telomerase Activity Assays: From Traditional Methods to Novel Technologies.ACS omega · 2026Review
- Relationship between hTERT levels and oxidative stress in epilepsy patients.Epilepsia open · 2026Article
- Telomerase mRNA-Lipid nanoparticles attenuate neuroinflammation after traumatic brain injury in mice.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Article
- Telomerase mRNA-Lipid nanoparticles attenuate neuroinflammation after traumatic brain injury in mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Telomerase Depletion Accelerates Ageing of the Zebrafish Brain.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Beyond the ends: potential implications of telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) for CNS diseases.Journal of molecular cell biology · 2025Review
- Telomere-driven senescence accelerates tau pathology, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in a tauopathy mouse model.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- How to measure and model cardiovascular aging.Cardiovascular research · 2025Review
- Uncovering active ingredients and mechanisms of Pholiota adiposa in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease based on network pharmacology and bioinformatics.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Shared genetic architecture between leukocyte telomere length and Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Tracing mitochondrial marks of neuronal aging in iPSCs-derived neurons and directly converted neurons.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Extended longevity of termite kings and queens is accompanied by extranuclear localization of telomerase in somatic organs and caste-specific expression of its isoforms.Insect science · 2025Article
- From Lab Bench to Hope: Emerging Gene Therapies in Clinical Trials for Alzheimer's Disease.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Cellular senescence in Alzheimer's disease: from physiology to pathology.Translational neurodegeneration · 2024Review
- NRF2 signaling pathway and telomere length in aging and age-related diseases.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2024Review
- The role of cellular senescence in neurodegenerative diseases.Archives of toxicology · 2024Review
- Telomere shortening induces aging-associated phenotypes in hiPSC-derived neurons and astrocytes.Biogerontology · 2024Article
- TERT mediates the U-shape of glucocorticoids effects in modulation of hippocampal neural stem cells and associated brain function.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Cycloastragenol promotes dorsal column axon regeneration in mice.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
The telomerase reverse transcriptase protein TERT has recently been demonstrated to have a variety of functions both in vitro and in vivo, which are distinct from its canonical role in telomere extension. In different cellular systems, TERT protein has been shown to be protective through its interaction with mitochondria. TERT has previously been found in rodent neurons, and we hypothesize that it might have a protective function in adult human brain. Here, we investigated the expression of TERT at different stages of Alzheimer's disease pathology (Braak Stages I-VI) in situ and the ability of TERT to protect against oxidative damage in an in vitro model of tau pathology. Our data reveal that TERT is expressed in vitro in mouse neurons and microglia, and in vivo in the cytoplasm of mature human hippocampal neurons and activated microglia, but is absent from astrocytes. Intriguingly, hippocampal neurons expressing TERT did not contain hyperphosphorylated tau. Vice versa, neurons that expressed high levels of pathological tau did not appear to express TERT protein. TERT protein colocalized with mitochondria in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease brains (Braak Stage VI), as well as in cultured neurons under conditions of oxidative stress. Our in vitro data suggest that the absence of TERT increases ROS generation and oxidative damage in neurons induced by pathological tau. Together, our findings suggest that TERT protein persists in neurons of the adult human brain, where it may have a protective role against tau pathology.
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