Telomerase activity and its relation with prognosis in pheochromocytoma / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression o f telomerase activity in pheochromacytoma and to assess its utility as a prognos tic marker. Methods Telomerase activity was estimated in 23 samples of pheohromocytoma tissue and 6 samples of normal adrenal medullae by autoradiography-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol. The reaults w ere analized with follow-up findings. Results Of the 2 3 pheochromocytoma samples, 2 had telomerase activity and both the telomerase-p ositive pheochromocytomas apparently arose from extraadrenal tissues. All normal adrenal medullae samples were negative for telomerase activity. During follow- up, we found both of the telomerase positive patients developed mutiple metastat ic lesions after surgery. Only one of 21 telomerase negative patients clinically developed bilateral lung metastases and a local recurrence after surgery. Conclusions Telomerase activity may be used as an important i ndicator of potentially malignant pheochromocytoma and may serve as a prognosti c marker.