Telomerase activity in gestational trophoblastic disease and placental tissue from early and late human pregnancies.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate telomerase activity in tissue from cases of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) and in placental tissue from early and late human pregnancies. METHODS We used a telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay to measure telomerase activity in 132 tissue samples from normal early pregnancies, spontaneous abortions, normal late pregnancies, cases of late-pregnancy intrauterine fetal death, and GTD. RESULTS Telomerase activity was detected more often in normal early pregnancies and cases of GTD than in spontaneous abortions and normal late pregnancies (P < 0.001). During early gestation, no significant difference in detection rates was found between normal pregnancies and complete hydatidiform mole. As gestational age increased, detection rates for normal pregnancies decreased significantly (P = 0.0001), while for complete hydatidiform mole no significant changes occurred. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that placental tissue from normal early pregnancies and neoplastic tissue from GTD possess similar levels of telomerase activity. Decreasing regulation of telomerase activity is present in normal pregnancies but not in complete hydatidiform mole. The fact that telomerase activity decreases in cases of fetal demise, and as pregnancy progresses, also suggests that placental senescence may play a role in the development and ageing of the placenta.