Clinical significance of telomerase activity in lung cancer / 中国肺癌杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To evaluate the clinical significance of telomerase activity in lung cancer and to investigate the possibility of telomerase as cancer marker for lung cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The activity of telomerase was investigated by TRAP-PCR-ELISA in lung cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues obtained from resected specimens of 48 patients with lung cancer and 42 specimens of benign pulmonary lesions were examined simultaneously.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Telomerase activity was detected in 42 (87.5%) of the 48 tumors and only 4 (8.3%) of the 48 adjacent noncancerous lung tissue samples (Chi-Square=13.029, P < 0.01), but in none of 42 specimens of benign pulmonary lesions (Chi-Square=14.016, P < 0.01). Correlation with pathological parameters showed that the expression of telomerase activity was associated with lymph node metastasis (93.5% vs 76.4% , Chi-Square=63.511, P < 0.01), but not with histological type, location and differenciated grade of tumor.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Telomerase activation correlates with the carcinogenesis and aggressiveness of lung cancer. Telomerase might be one of the important diagnostic and prognostic factors in patients with lung cancer.</p>