Proximity ligation-transcription circuit-powered exponential amplifications for single-molecule monitoring of telomerase in human cells.

We develop a new strategy for single-molecule monitoring of telomerase based on proximity ligation-transcription circuit-powered exponential amplifications. This strategy exhibits high sensitivity with a detection limit of 0.1 aM for the synthetic telomerase product TPC4 in vitro and 1 HeLa cell in vivo . Moreover, it can screen potential inhibitors, discriminate telomerase from interferents, and distinguish cancer cells from normal cells.