Gümüş-Akay G, Unal A E, Bayar S, Karadayi K, Elhan A H, Sunguroĝlu A, Tükün A
Department of Medical Biology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Genet Mol Res. 2007 Feb 15;6(1):41-9.
Telomerase activity is responsible for telomere maintenance and is believed to be crucial in most immortal cells and cancer cells; however, its clinicopathological significance in gastric cancer remains to be clarified. The aim of the present study was to assess whether malignant progression of gastric adenocarcinoma correlates with telomerase activity. We also investigated the correlation between telomerase activity and histopathological findings. We examined telomerase activity in tumor specimens and adjacent normal tissues from 43 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. Telomerase activity was measured quantitatively by the TRAPEZE Gel Based Telomerase Detection Kit. Approximately 98% of the tumor tissues were telomerase positive, but telomerase activity was detected not only in tumor tissues but also in normal gastric mucosa. Although telomerase activity was found to be higher in tumor samples than normal tissue for each subject, we could not find a general cut-off level for telomerase activity in gastric adenocarcinoma. In addition, telomerase activity was not correlated with tumor invasion, lymph node involvement and histological stage. Our results support the idea that telomerase reactivation is a common event in gastric adenocarcinoma and it is not related to histopathological parameters. Since it is difficult to set a cut-off level for this type of cancer, we suggest that the prognostic utility of telomerase assay has not yet reached the clinic in terms of predicting outcome for patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. For the assessment of gastric carcinoma, telomerase activity should be evaluated in both tumor and normal tissues, because normal gastric mucosa samples show appreciable telomerase activity.
端粒酶活性负责端粒的维持，并且被认为在大多数永生化细胞和癌细胞中至关重要；然而，其在胃癌中的临床病理意义仍有待阐明。本研究的目的是评估胃腺癌的恶性进展是否与端粒酶活性相关。我们还研究了端粒酶活性与组织病理学结果之间的相关性。我们检测了43例胃腺癌患者肿瘤标本及相邻正常组织中的端粒酶活性。采用基于TRAPEZE凝胶的端粒酶检测试剂盒对端粒酶活性进行定量测定。约98%的肿瘤组织端粒酶呈阳性，但不仅在肿瘤组织中检测到端粒酶活性，在正常胃黏膜中也检测到了。虽然发现每个受试者的肿瘤样本中端粒酶活性均高于正常组织，但我们未能找到胃腺癌中端粒酶活性的通用临界值。此外，端粒酶活性与肿瘤浸润、淋巴结受累及组织学分期无关。我们的结果支持这样一种观点，即端粒酶重新激活在胃腺癌中是一个常见事件，且与组织病理学参数无关。由于难以为此类癌症设定临界值，我们认为就预测胃腺癌患者的预后而言，端粒酶检测的预后效用尚未应用于临床。对于胃癌的评估，应在肿瘤组织和正常组织中均评估端粒酶活性，因为正常胃黏膜样本显示出明显的端粒酶活性。
