How does hTERT immortalize cells?
When the catalytic component (i.e. hTERT) of the telomerase holoenzyme is transfected into cells, its expression leads to maintenance of the telomere end-regions of chromosomes. In most instances, this suppresses replicative senescence and causes the cells to become immortal. There is no need to transfect the cells with the RNA component of telomerase (i.e., hTERC or hTR) because it is ubiquitously expressed in cells.
