Murakami J, Nagai N, Ohama K, Tahara H, Ide T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Japan.
Cancer. 1997 Sep 15;80(6):1085-92.
Shortening of telomeres occurs with each cell division and eventually results in cell death. The activity of telomerase, an enzyme that catalyzes telomere elongation, has been detected in germ cell lines and cancer cells, and has been detected in immortal cell lines but not in normal somatic cells. The relationship between telomerase expression and ovarian carcinogenesis was investigated.
Ovarian tissue was obtained from 41 women with ovarian tumors (10 benign, 6 borderline-malignant, and 25 malignant tumors) and 6 with uterine disease (2 with uterine myoma and 4 with uterine carcinoma). These specimens were analyzed for telomerase activity and telomere length by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol and Southern blot hybridization, respectively.
Telomerase activity was detected in 23 of 25 malignant ovarian tumors (92%), in 1 of 6 borderline-malignant tumors (16.7%), and in 2 of 10 benign tumors (20%) (both of which were germ cell tumors). Weak telomerase activity was present in the cortex of normal ovaries from premenopausal women, and appeared to be attributable to follicles. Telomerase activity in malignant and poorly differentiated tumors tended to be higher than that in other tumors. Terminal restriction fragment length ranged between 8 and 13 kilobase pairs (kbp) for normal ovaries, and was <8 kbp in 1 of 6 malignant Stage I tumors (16.7%), 1 of 2 Stage II tumors (50%), and 9 of 17 Stage III tumors (52.9%).
Telomerase activity may be a useful marker for the diagnosis of ovarian tumors.
端粒随着每次细胞分裂而缩短，最终导致细胞死亡。端粒酶是一种催化端粒延长的酶，已在生殖细胞系和癌细胞中检测到，也在永生化细胞系中检测到，但在正常体细胞中未检测到。研究了端粒酶表达与卵巢癌发生之间的关系。
从41例患有卵巢肿瘤的女性（10例良性、6例交界性恶性和25例恶性肿瘤）以及6例患有子宫疾病的女性（2例子宫肌瘤和4例子宫癌）获取卵巢组织。分别通过端粒重复序列扩增法和Southern印迹杂交分析这些标本的端粒酶活性和端粒长度。
在25例恶性卵巢肿瘤中的23例（92%）、6例交界性恶性肿瘤中的1例（16.7%）以及10例良性肿瘤中的2例（20%）（均为生殖细胞肿瘤）检测到端粒酶活性。绝经前女性正常卵巢皮质中存在弱端粒酶活性，似乎归因于卵泡。恶性和低分化肿瘤中的端粒酶活性往往高于其他肿瘤。正常卵巢的末端限制片段长度在8至13千碱基对（kbp）之间，6例恶性I期肿瘤中的1例（16.7%）、2例II期肿瘤中的1例（50%）以及17例III期肿瘤中的9例（52.9%）的末端限制片段长度<8 kbp。
端粒酶活性可能是诊断卵巢肿瘤的有用标志物。
