shRNA-targeted hTERT suppress cell proliferation of bladder cancer by inhibiting telomerase activity.

RNA interference (RNAi) has demonstrated profound prospect in human gene research. hTERT, the rate-limiting component of telomerase activity, is highly expressed in bladder cancer cells. Here, we investigated the anti-proliferation effects of small hairpin interfering RNA (shRNA)-targeted hTERT gene on bladder cancer in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that ph2-shRNA, the most-effective vector carrying shRNA-targeted hTERT, could significantly inhibit the cell proliferation by down-regulating hTERT expression, decreasing telomerase activity, decreasing cell number of S phase, increasing the cell number of G0/G1 phase in T24 cells and xenograft tumor tissues, and attenuate the tumor growth of xenograft mice model compared with controls. Our results demonstrate that hTERT-directed shRNAs are potent inhibitors of bladder cancer.