The present invention is directed to methods of identifying in a sample nucleic acids that encode human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTRT) or its fragments. The present invention is also directed to oligonucleotide primers used in such methods. The invention is further directed to PCR products that hybridize under stringent conditions to a polynucleotide encoding hTRT, as well as hybridization complexes comprising one strand of a cellular hTRT nucleic acid and one strand of nucleic acid comprising a recombinant or synthetic fragment of hTRT.