title: Telomerase activity and survival of late-stage South African esophageal carcinoma patients.
abstract: Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus is a cancer with a high incidence in South Africa. We have investigated the prognostic value of telomerase activity in tumors as well as nearby normal tissue. Biopsies from 98 patients (71 men and 27 women) were analyzed using an adaptation of the TRAP assay. We found all tumor biopsies to have moderate to high telomerase activity, while one third of biopsies from normal mucosa were negative. The telomerase activity level of the tumors had no prognostic value (P = 0.95) as determined by the log rank test. A P-value of 0.02 was found when the telomerase-negative and moderately positive normal biopsies were grouped together and compared to those with high activity. Our results show that telomerase activity of normal mucosa in the vicinity of the tumor can identify a population of patients with significantly worse prognosis, even in late stage patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
authors.forename: W M J
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: van den Heever
authors.forename: G H J
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Pretorius
authors.forename: S J A
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Smit
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D004947:Esophagus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D013019:South Africa; D016019:Survival Analysis; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase