Original Article


TELOMERASE ACTIVITY IN HUMAN GASTRIC AND COLORECTAL CANCER AND SURROUNDING TISSUES

Wen Chen, Qiao Zhang, De-sen Wan, Ling-yun Cun, Cheng-qiu Wu, Zhi-zhong Pan

Abstract

Objective: To study the telomerase activities in human gastric and colorectal tumors.
Methods: The telomerase activity was assayed by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) technique. Forty human tumor samples including 9 colonic, 20 rectal and 11 gastric carcinomas and their surrounding tissues were used for the detection.
Results: Thirty-six out of 40 human tumor samples exhibited telomerase activity regardless of the stages or the differentiation of the tumors. However, only 1 out of 39 tumor surrounding tissues showed telomerase activity.
Conclusion: Telomerase may be a good diagnosis biomarker for tumor detection.