Telomerase activity in colorectal cancer and its relationship to bcl-2 expression.
OBJECTIVE
Telomerase is thought to be responsible for cell immortality, and bcl-2 has been demonstrated to regulate apoptosis. Recent studies have shown a wide occurrence of telomerase activation and bcl-2 deregulation in human carcinoma cells.


METHODS
We examined telomerase activity in tissues from 50 patients with colorectal carcinoma with a telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay. We also investigated the relationship between telomerase activity and expression of bcl-2 in 37 colorectal carcinoma specimens.


RESULTS
We detected telomerase activity in 33 (66%) of 50 colorectal carcinomas, whereas no activity was detected in the adjacent noncancerous mucosa of 13 tumor specimens. There was no correlation between pathological stage and telomerase activity. Telomerase activity in the bcl-2-expressing cases was higher than that in the bcl-2-non-expressing cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Expression of bcl-2 may be related to telomerase activity in colorectal carcinomas.
Iida
A
A
First Department of Surgery, Fukui Medical University, Fukui, Japan.
Yamaguchi
A
A
Hirose
K
K
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis
D004396:Coloring Agents; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D019098:Telomerase