Figure 2

Telomere shortening activates the cGAS-STING pathway.

(A) Representative western blot images and quantification of downstream targets of cGAS-STING pathway (n_WT = 4–5, n_tert-/- = 5–6, n_sting-/- = 5–7, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 5, p-Irf3/Irf3: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.049, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.011; p-Tbk1/Tbk1: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.035, tert-/- vs sting-/- p = 0.002, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.042). (B) RT-qPCR analysis of isg15 gene expression in the skin, testis, kidney marrow and intestine (n_WT = 5–6, n_tert-/- = 4–8, n_sting-/- = 5–8, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 7–9, skin: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.024, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.011, N = 5–7, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.007; testis: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.001, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.001, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.002; kidney marrow: N = 6–9, WT vs tert-/- p = 0.045, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.022, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.019; intestine: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.0008, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.0007, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.001). (C) RT-qPCR analysis of ifn-i gene expression in the skin, testis, kidney marrow and intestine (n_WT = 4–6, n_tert-/- = 5–8, n_sting-/- = 5–8, n_{tert-/- sting-/-} = 6–9, skin: sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.004, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.002; testis: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.003, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.003, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.003; kidney marrow: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.008, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.004, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.011; intestine: WT vs tert-/- p = 0.020, sting-/- vs tert-/- p = 0.005, tert-/- vs tert-/- sting-/- p = 0.014). Data were presented as the mean ± s.e.m.; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, using a one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test. Source data are available online for this figure.