title: Telomerase activity in renal cell carcinoma by modified telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous assessments by the conventional telomeric repeat amplification protocol have not been reliable for the quantitation of telomerase activity. We, therefore, determined telomerase activity in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tissue by the modified sensitive telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Telomerase activity was examined in 23 cases of RCC and in the adjacent normal kidney tissue, and assessed for associations with clinical and pathological variables of the disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The linearity and quantitation of the modified method was confirmed. Mean telomerase activity of RCC (1987.889 +/- 1232.801 units) was significantly greater than that of normal renal tissue (173.467 +/- 241.893 units) (P = 0.0001). Telomerase activity in RCC was, however, not associated with clinical or pathological variables such as clinical stage (P = 0.8941), grade (P = 0.8043) or pathological subtype (P = 0.9739).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that telomerase might play a crucial role in an initial step of the development of RCC, but not in the progression of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Osaka Medical College, Osaka and Fujii Memorial Research Institute, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Shiga, Japan. uro009@poh.osaka-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Segawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gohji
authors.forename: Haruhito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Azuma
authors.forename: Yusaku
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katsuoka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D019098:Telomerase