[Detection of telomerase activity of exfoliated cells in bile and its clinical impact].
OBJECTIVE
Some studies revealed that telomerase activity could be detected in exfoliated cancer cells in body fluid such as urine, pancreatic juice, pleural effusion that is a good diagnostic marker for malignancies. However, few reports about telomerase in exfoliated cancer cells in bile are available. The current study was designed to determine the telomerase activity of exfoliated cells in bile and its clinical impact in the patients with malignant obstructive jaundice.


METHODS
Telomerase activity was determined by using a modified PCR-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol(TRAP)-sliver stain assay.


RESULTS
Telomerase activity was detected in 33 of 44(75%) bile specimens from patients with malignant tumor. In contrast, only 1 of 19(5.3%) bile samples from cholelithiasis was telomerase positive. There was no relation ship between the positive rate of telomerase activity and the clinicopathological finds including metastatic status and differentiation, but telomerase positive rate was higher in bile from patients with pancreatic carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Comparison of telomerase assay with cytologic examination showed that, among the 44 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice, 31 cases underwent cytological examination, cancer cells were found only in 3(9.7%) bile specimens, and all cytological examination positive specimens were telomerase positive.


CONCLUSIONS
The TRAP assay can effectively detect telomerase activity of the exfoliated cancer cells in bile. Telomerase could be a molecular marker for diagnosis of malignant bile duct disease. The detection of telomerase activity in bile could become a useful adjunct in the cytologic examination.
Yu
Shi-an
SA
Department of Surgery, Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, Zhejiang 321000, P. R. China.
Peng
Cheng-hong
CH
Wu
Rong-jing
RJ
Zheng
Zhang-dong
ZD
Chen
Kai
K
Fu
Zhu-neng
ZN
D001646:Bile / Q000201:enzymology*; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology*; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000201:enzymology*; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*
D019098:Telomerase