The dual role of protein kinase C in the regulation of telomerase activity in human lymphocytes

Protein kinase C (PKC) has been implicated to play an essential function in the upregulation of telomerase activity in activated T cells, yet its role in the regulation of telomerase activity remains largely unknown. In this work, we present evidence that PKC activity is required both for the induction of hTERT expression and for the post-transcriptional control of telomerase enzyme activity in T lymphocytes. Of the several PKC isoforms present in lymphocytes, only the level of PKC-zeta was greatly increased during T cell activation, implicating that PKC-zeta may be required for the post-transcriptional control of telomerase enzyme activity in T lymphocytes.