hTR overexpression protects from dexamethasone-induced apoptosis independent of telomerase activity. (A) Telomerase activity with hTR variant overexpression. Error bars show standard deviation of biological triplicates. (B) RNA levels of hTR overexpression represented as fold change over empty vector. Error bars show standard deviation of PCR triplicates. (C) Caspase-3/7 activity measured by luminescence. Luminescence normalized to background levels. Error bars represent standard error of the mean of biological triplicates. (D) Caspase-3/7 activity measured by luminescence when hTERT is knocked down. Error bars represent standard error of the mean of biological triplicates. **P < .001 assessed by 1-way ANOVA. Solid bars: no dexamethasone treatment; checkered bars: treatment with 1μM dexamethasone.