Effects of IFN-α on hTERT levels and telomerase activity in Daudi, P3HR-1, U266 and H9 cells.

(A) Exponentially growing cells were cultured in the presence or absence of IFN-α (5000 U/mL) for the indicated times and hTERT levels (▵) and telomerase activity (▪) were determined using the competitive RT-PCR and TRAP assays respectively, as described in “Materials, and methods.” C denotes the competitor band. Data shown are representative of 3 independent experiments. (B) Influence of various concentrations of IFN-α on hTERT levels (▵) and telomerase activity (▪) in Daudi cells. Exponentially growing cells were cultured in the presence or absence of IFN-α for 48 hours and hTERT levels and telomerase activity were determined.