TERT and cancer: It is well-documented that TERT was highly expressed in different cancers, with its promoter mutation being a possible marker for the poor diagnosis and prognosis of urothelial, bladder, thyroid papillary, prostate cancers, etc. (Borah et al., 2015; Jaiswal et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2014; Nickerson et al., 2014; Stoehr et al., 2015).