3.3. Global profiling of gene expression pattern following knockdown of
hTERT
In addition to telomere maintenance, telomerase also modulates
gene expression by hitherto unrevealed mechanisms. In order to develop
an impression of various players influenced by telomerase vis-à-vis those influencing telomerase expression, it becomes pertinent to make
a genome-wide expression profile of various genes associated with
change in telomerase expression.
The cDNA expression microarray analysis was performed on HeLa
cells 72 h after transfection with siRNA hTERT, Tet regulated shRNA–
hTERT or scrambled siRNA. To characterize the transcriptomic profiles
under the above treatment conditions, the log2 values of normalized
transcript intensities of all the three treatments in triplicate were plotted
against the basal expression range and the distribution of the total
number of probes/genes analyzed.