Absence of correlation between telomerase activity and hepatic neoplasia in B6C3F1 mice

Telomeres are the physical ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, which maintain c hromosome stability and are progressively shortened with aging in somatic c ells. The enzyme telomerase elongates telometric DNA and while not usually detectable in human somatic cells is expressed in most human tumors. The pr esent study was conducted to determine if telomerase activity is a marker f or spontaneous hepatic neoplastic changes in B6C3F1 mice, a strain frequent ly used in rodent carcinogenicity studies. Telomerase activity was generall y higher in microscopically normal liver tissue from 8-week-old compared to aged mice (110-week-old); however, telomerase activity was not consistentl y increased in hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas. It is proposed that, while elevated telomerase activity may modulate human tumor development, m odulation of telomerase activity is not a feature of hepatic tumors in B6C3 F1 mice and therefore is unlikely to have utility as a molecular marker for hepatic neoplasia in this mouse strain. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.