Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40596487›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

TERT PfeRNA regulates telomere length during cellular senescence of normal human bronchial epithelial cells.

Suguru Yamauchi, Kaitlyn Ecoff, Andrei Gurau, Kristen P Rodgers, Malcolm V Brock, Yuping Mei

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Suguru YamauchiThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
Kaitlyn EcoffThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
Andrei GurauThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
Kristen P RodgersThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
Malcolm V BrockThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA.
Yuping MeiThe Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA. ymei3@jhmi.edu.

Funding

Translational Research Central ServicesP30CA006973 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI ALAN KEITH MEEKER · 1985 to 2026
$208.6M
Mechanistic and therapeutic insights into druggable AA-pfeRNA in lung cancerR21CA290334 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI MEI, YUPING · 2024 to 2025
$421k
Identify the target proteins of one ADC-specific and two SCC-specific pfeRNAs and investigate the mechanisms underlying the pfeRNA-protein interaction.R03CA259658 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI MEI, YUPING · 2023 to 2024
$164k
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA006973NCI NIH HHS R03 CA259658NCI NIH HHS R21 CA290334NIH HHS CA259658
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Telomeres progressively shorten with each cell division in human somatic cells, but the mechanisms governing telomere length remain incompletely understood. Although telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is central to telomere maintenance, the discrepancy between TERT level and telomere length highlights the unidentified molecules that regulate TERT's functional activities. Here, we identify novel TERT-associated protein functional effector sncRNAs (TpfeRNAs) that modulate telomerase activity and telomere length during cellular senescence of normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells. We found that in senescent NHBE cells, telomerase activity, TERT mRNA levels, and telomere length were 60%, 2.7%, and 76% of those in proliferative cells, respectively. Using immunoprecipitation and TA cloning assays, we identified TpfeRNAa and TpfeRNAb, which were differentially expressed in proliferative and senescent NHBE cells. Blocking TpfeRNAb in senescent cells increased telomere length by 18% and boosted telomerase activity by tenfold, while ectopic expression of TpfeRNAb in proliferative decreased telomere length by 10%. These findings uncover TpfeRNAb as a key regulator of TERT activity to control telomere length, providing new insights into cellular senescence and aging-related diseases.

Indexed as

BronchiCellular SenescenceEpithelial CellsTelomeraseTelomereTelomere HomeostasisCell LineCell ProliferationHumansTelomeraseTERT protein, human

Identifiers

PMID40596487
PMCPMC12219836

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.