Effects of exogenous hTERT on proliferation of primary rat hepatocytes

Objective: To construct a new type of retrovirus plasmid pLNCX2 hTERT and to investigate the effects of human telomerase reverse transcriptase（hTERT） gene delivery on primary cultured rat hepatocyte proliferation. Methods: The plasmid pLNCX2-hTERT was transformed into 293T cells to generate recombinant retrovirus.The expression of hTERT in primary cultured rat hepatocytes infected with pLNCX2-hTERT was detected by RT-PCR and western blot.The impact of hTERT on the proliferative activity of cells was examined by methyl thiazol tetrazolium（MTT）. Results: The recombinant retrovirus plasmid pLNCX2-hTERT was correctly constructed.When the primary cultured rat hepatocytes were infected with the viruses,the growth of primarily-cultured cells can be significantly increased. Conclusion: The recombinant retrovirus plasmid pLNCX2-hTERT can transfer hTERT into hepatocytes and increase the cell proliferation significantly.