TELOMERASE ACTIVATION IN CERVICAL-CANCER

It has been hypothesized that infection with high-risk human papilloma viruses (HPVs), in conjunction with other cellular events, plays a cri tical role ill the development of cervical cancer Activation of telome rase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme complex that synthesizes telomerase r epeats, has been associated with acquisition of the immortal phenotype in vitro and is commonly observed in human cancers. In this study, we have examined 10 high-grade cervical cancers for telomerase activity and for the presence of HPV. Telomerase activity was detected in all o f the cancers but in none of the paired histopathologically, normal ut erine tissues or in normal cervical epithelium. Analysis of these same tissues for HPV nucleic acids by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) usin g primers from the HPV L1 and EG open reading frames demonstrated that 7 of 10 cancers were positive for HPV, 3 for HPV type 16 (HPV-16), an d 4 for HPV-18. In one case, HPV-16 was detected in histopathologicall y normal uterine tissue, the same type as that detected ill the cancer from the same patient, HPV DNA was not detected tit 3 of IO cancers T hese results indicate that telomerase activation is common in high-gra de cervical cancers and suggests that telomerase activity may be a use ful diagnostic marker the disease.