Telomerase activity in human gynaecological malignancies.
نویسندگان
چکیده
AIM To evaluate whether increased telomerase activity can be clinically useful for detecting malignant cells in a variety of gynaecological specimens. METHODS Telomerase activity was examined in frozen tissue samples of histologically confirmed lesions of the endometrium, ovary, and cervix. It was also assessed in exfoliated cells in cervical smears from patients with premalignant and malignant lesions and in ascitic fluid obtained from cases with malignant or non-malignant ovarian tumours. RESULTS Solid tissues from carcinomas were telomerase positive in all specimens of endometrial (6/6) and cervical (6/6) origin, and in almost all from the ovary (12/13). Normal tissues from the cervix (0/5) and the ovary (0/5) were telomerase negative, but samples from normal endometrium were found to show telomerase activity, possibly due to the cyclical regenerative nature of this tissue. Conversely, dissociated cells in cervical smears from preneoplastic and frankly neoplastic lesions rarely showed detectable telomerase activity. Thus smears from patients with malignant tumours were only positive in one of two patients, whereas those from CIN-2 (0/5) and CIN-3 (1/17) lesions and from normal (0/10) samples were almost all negative. Telomerase activity was also scarcely detectable in cells obtained from ascitic fluid from patients with ovarian tumours. CONCLUSIONS As in many other organs, telomerase activity is increased in solid tissue specimens from malignant tumours of the female reproductive tract, but it is not yet a reliable indicator of the presence of exfoliated cancerous or precancerous cells in clinical specimens from such lesions. Interpretation should be guarded until more extensive studies have been conducted. The data on solid tissues presented here confirm that activation of this enzyme is a major hallmark of the neoplastic process.
منابع مشابه
The Influence of Iron Loading and Iron Chelation on the Proliferation and Telomerase Activity of Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Background: Iron is an essential trace element in cell proliferation. Several investigations demonstrate that iron deprivation inhibits cell proliferation. However, the impact of iron on telomerase activity of activated lymphocytes remains unexplained to date. Objective: In this study, the effect of iron on the proliferation and telomerase activity of lymphocytes stimulated by phytohemagglutini...
متن کاملExpression Pattern of Alternative Splicing Variants of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) in Cancer Cell Lines Was not Associated with the Origin of the Cells
Telomerase and systems controlling their activity have been of great attention. There are controversies regarding the role of the alternative splicing forms of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), the catalytic subunit of telomerase. Therefore, the correlation between telomerase enzyme activity, the abundance of alternatively spliced variants of hTERT and doubling time of a seri...
متن کاملImplications of telomeres and telomerase in endometrial pathology
BACKGROUND Eukaryotic chromosomal ends are linear and are protected by nucleoprotein complexes known as telomeres. The complex structural anatomy and the diverse functions of telomeres as well as the unique reverse transcriptase enzyme, telomerase that maintains telomeres are under intensive scientific scrutiny. Both are involved in many human diseases including cancer, but also in ageing and c...
متن کاملColony Forming Unit Endothelial Cells Do not Exhibit Telomerase Alternative Splicing Variants and Activity
Introduction: Endothelial progenitor colony forming unit-endothelial cells (CFU-EC) were first believed to be the progenitors of endothelial cells, named endothelial progenitor cells. Further studies revealed that they are monocytes regulating vasculogenesis. The main hindrance of these cells for therapeutic purposes is their low frequency and limited replicative potentials. This study was unde...
متن کاملRAPID COMMUNICATION Telomerase Activity in Normal Leukocytes and in Hematologic Malignancies
Telomeres are essential for function and stability of eukaryotic chromosomes. In the absence of telomerase, the enzyme that synthesizes telomeric DNA, telomeres shorten with cell division, a process thought to contribute to cell senescence and the Proliferative crisis of transformed cells. We reported telomere stabilization concomitant with detection of telomerase activity in cells immortalized...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of clinical pathology
دوره 50 6 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1997