The telomerase activity and the homozygous deletions of p16 gene in liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma / 中国普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the telomerase activity and abnormality of p16 gene in liver metastatic tumors of colorectal carcinoma. Methods Telomerase activity was detected by a non isotopic PCR based TRAP assay (Telomeric repeat amplification protocol) and the homozygous deletions of p16 gene was detected by a semiquantitative multiple PCR in tissue samples from 24 liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma. Results Telomerase activity were observed in 19 (79 2%) out of the 24 colorectal carcinoma patients. There was no correlation hetween the telomerase activity, the number of metastasis, differentiation, liver fibrosis and HBsAg status of the patients. Homozygous deletions of p16 gene were found in 9 out of 24 (37 5%) patients, and homozygous deletions of p16 gene was significantly correlated with telomerase activity.Conclusion The abnormality in telomerase activity and homozygous deletions of p16 gene may be important for elucidating in liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma.