TELOMERASE ACTIVITY IN HUMAN LARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS

The activation of telomerase has been shown to be an important step du ring tumorigenesis in a variety of malignancies and is associated with characteristics of cellular immortality, such as indefinite prolifera tive potential, We studied telomerase activity in a series of human la ryngeal carcinomas, Thirty-six tumors from 35 patients were studied us ing a sensitive PCR-based technique, the telomeric repeat amplificatio n protocol assay, Telomerase activity was present in 32 tumors (89%), and the level of activity correlated with the stage of disease. In two of four telomerase-negative tumors, we found evidence of an inhibitor of telomerase activity, In many cases, samples of mucosa surrounding the tumor were also studied, and telomerase could be detected in 16 of 21 patients, For this reason, we proceeded to perform a topographical analysis that demonstrated a pattern of telomerase activity suggestiv e of a spread of telomerase-positive cells, In conclusion, these data indicate that telomerase activation is important for laryngeal carcino genesis and that telomerase assay might be a valuable addition to dete rmine the spread of the disease.