TERT and thyroid gland carcinoma: For instance, miR-138 has been reported to function as a direct regulator of TERT expression in thyroid carcinoma and at least 5 additional tumor suppressor miRs (let-7g, miR-133a, miR-342, miR-491 and miR-541) have been shown to be capable of regulating TERT expression through direct interaction with TERT mRNA [20, 21].