RESUMO
To study the telomerase expression in adrenal cortical tumors and its clinical signinificance. Telomerase expression was estimated in 8 cases of adrenal cortical carcinoma, 20 cases of adrenal cortical adenoma, 24 tissues adjacent to cancer, and 4 specimens of normal adrenal tissue by the PCR based telomeric repeat amplification protocol. Telomerase was found to be expressed positively in 7(87 5%) of 8 adrenal cortical carcinoma samples and 1(4 2%) of 24 tissues adjacent to tumor, while it was not expressed in all the 20 samples of adrenal cortical adenoma and normal adrenal tissue. The expression of telomerase in adrenal cortical tumors clearly demonstrated the malignant behavior of the tumor cells. Demonstration of telomerase expression appears to be a useful tool for the diagnosis of malignant adrenal cortical tumors.