Difference of Telomerase Activity Between Uterine Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia, Early and Advanced Cervical Cancers / 대한산부인과학회잡지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Objective: Cellular immortality is believed to be a critical step in tumorigenesis. As an important component of the telomere maintenance mechanism, the activation of the enzyme telomerase is tightly associated with cellular immortality and cancer. However, little is known about the status of telomerase during human cervical cancer development. To assess the role of telomerase in the development of malignant transformation of the uterine cervix, this investigation was performed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Telomerase activity was measured by telomeric repeat amplification protocol(TRAP) assay in 8 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN) and 24 cervical cancers. The tissue adjacent to the lesions from the same patients was also examined for the presence of telomerase activity. RESULTS: Thirty one of the 32(96.9%) lesions were positive for telomerase activity. In the CIN patients, four of the 8(50.0%) lesions showed moderately to strongly positive activities. In the cervical cancer Ia lesions, five of the 9(55.6%), and beyond the stage Ib lesions, fourteen of the 15(93.3%) showed moderately to strongly positive activities. There was a positive correlation between the grade of the lesion and the telomerase activity(P=0.023). Patient's gravida and telomerase activity also had a positive correlation(P=0.022). CONCLUSION: Relatively weak telomerase activity was detected in the low grade cervical lesion and strong activity was detected in the high grade lesion. There was a progressive increase of telomerase activity in association with an increased degree of cervical lesion. Patient's gravida also had an association with telomerase activity. These results suggest that the expression of telomerase activity may play a crucial role in cervical carcinogenesis.