[The value of detecting telomerase activity on early diagnosis of lung cancer].
BACKGROUND
To explore the possibility of telomerase as tumor marker of lung cancer and to evaluate its value on early diagnosis of lung cancer.


METHODS
Telomerase activity was measured in 40 resected specimens of lung cancer and 40 preoperative fibro-optic bronchoscope biopsied specimens of suspected lung cancer by PCR based silver staining telomeric repeat amplification protocal (TRAP) respectively.


RESULTS
The positive rate of telomerase was 100% in SCLC, but 84.8% in resected samples and 95.7% in biopsied samples in NSCLC. The positive rate of telomerase was 87.5%(35/40) in resected lung cancer tissues, 7.5%(3/40) in paracancerous tissues and 0%(0/40) in normal lung tissues (P<0.01). 82.5% (34/40) biopsied specimens of suspected lung cancer were detected with telomerase activity. Its sensitivity, specificity, and accurate rate was 96.4%, 71.4%, and 91.4% respectively for detection of lung cancer, Youden's Index (J)=0.678,and SE(J)=0.174.


CONCLUSIONS
Telomerase may be a sensitive tumor marker of lung cancer. Detecting telomerase activity in preoperative fibro-optic bronchoscope biopsied specimens may contribute to early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Department of Oncology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221002, P.R.China.
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T
Gu
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Wang
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Wang
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Wang
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Liu
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Zhang
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Shi
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Zhang
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Sun
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Xue
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Zhang
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Liu
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Zhu
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Mao