Proteome alteration induced by hTERT transfection of human fibroblast cells.

Background: Telomerase confers cellular immortality by elongating telomeres, thereby circumventing the Hayflick limit. Extended-life-span cells have been generated by transfection with the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene. hTERT transfected cell lines may be of outstanding interest to monitor the effect of drugs targeting the telomerase activity.

Pores formation on cell membranes by hederacolchiside A1 leads to a rapid release of proteins for cytosolic subproteome analysis.

Hederacolchiside A1 was used to progressively permeabilize the membrane of human melanoma MEL-5 cells. Holes formation was followed by Scanning Electron Microscopy and interaction of the saponin with cholesterol and phospholipids by TOF-SIMS. 2D-LC-MS/MS and 2D-SDS-PAGE show that the release of soluble proteins into serum-free culture media increases with time.