Telomerase activity in plasma cell dyscrasias

Activation of telomerase is essential for in vitro cellular immortalization and tumorigenesis. In the present study, we investigated telomerase activa tion and its implications in plasma cell dyscrasias including monoclonal ga mmopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), multiple myeloma (MM) and pla sma cell leukaemia (PCL). All 5 patients with MGUS exhibited normal levels of telomerase activity in their plasma cells. Elevated telomerase activity was found in the samples from 21/27 patients with MM and 4/4 with PCL. In a ddition, 4 myeloma cell lines all expressed high levels of telomerase activ ity. The expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomer ase RNA template (hTER) was positively associated with the levels of telome rase activity in MM/PCL, Tankyrase expression was upregulated, concomitant with the induction of hTERT and activation of telomerase in MM/PCL. The pre sent findings indicate that MGUS cells may not be immortalized and that act ivation of telomerase plays a role in the malignant transformation from MGU S to MM, (C) 2001 Cancer Research Campaign.