TELOMERASE ACTIVITY IN PANCREATIC-JUICE DIFFERENTIATES DUCTAL CARCINOMA FROM ADENOMA AND PANCREATITIS

Telomerase activity was measured in pancreatic juice obtained by endos copic retrograde pancreatography from 34 patients (12 with ductal carc inoma, 12 with pancreatic adenoma, and 10 with pancreatitis), The acti vity in pancreatic juice was expressed as the number of cells of a hum an pancreatic cancer cell line, MIA PaCa-2, that exhibit an activity e qual to that expressed in 1 mu g of protein from pancreatic juice, A t elomerase ladder was detected in the pancreatic juice obtained from a majority of the patients with ductal adenocarcinoma, The median value of relative telomerase activity in the carcinoma samples was 9.38 (25t h percentile, 3.14; 75th percentile, 95.8), a value significantly high er than that derived from patients with either pancreatitis or pancrea tic adenoma (P < 0.0001), When a threshold value of relative telomeras e activity of 3.00 was used, 75% (9 of 12) of the samples obtained fro m patients with ductal carcinoma were positive, We conclude that telom erase activity in pancreatic juice differentiates adenocarcinoma from adenoma and pancreatitis and may serve as a useful diagnostic tool.