Kim N W
Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
Eur J Cancer. 1997 Apr;33(5):781-6. doi: 10.1016/S0959-8049(97)00057-9.
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. Telomerase expression is detected in a majority of tumours, but is absent in most somatic tissues and correlates to clinical outcome in a number of cancer types. Telomerase expression is associated with the stage of differentiation but not necessarily with the rate of cell proliferation. Data also indicate that inhibition or absence of telomerase may result in cell crisis in cancer cells and tumour regression in cancer patients. These results suggest that cancer therapy based on telomerase inhibition could be a more effective and safer treatment for cancer, as well as provide a more accurate means for diagnosing and predicting clinical outcome in cancer. Complete understanding of the role of telomerase in tumorigenesis through well-designed clinical studies will have a significant clinical impact on the treatment and diagnosis of cancer.
细胞永生化被认为是肿瘤发生的关键步骤。作为端粒维持机制的重要组成部分，端粒酶的激活与细胞永生化和癌症密切相关。在大多数肿瘤中可检测到端粒酶表达，但在大多数体细胞组织中不存在，且在多种癌症类型中与临床结果相关。端粒酶表达与分化阶段相关，但不一定与细胞增殖速率相关。数据还表明，端粒酶的抑制或缺失可能导致癌细胞出现细胞危机以及癌症患者肿瘤消退。这些结果表明，基于端粒酶抑制的癌症治疗可能是一种更有效、更安全的癌症治疗方法，同时也为癌症的诊断和预测临床结果提供了更准确的手段。通过精心设计的临床研究全面了解端粒酶在肿瘤发生中的作用，将对癌症的治疗和诊断产生重大临床影响。
