Original ContributionsTelomerase activity and expression of human telomerase RNA component and human telomerase reverse transcriptase in lung carcinomas*
Section snippets
Tissue samples
Lung carcinomas and adjacent nonneoplastic tissues were obtained from 115 patients (85 men and 30 women), ranging in age from 33 to 86 years (mean 65.8 years). They underwent surgery at the National Defense Medical College Hospital, Tokorozawa, Japan, between January 1986 and February 1998, without prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy. These patients were observed clinically until June 1999.
For histologic examination, the tissues were fixed with 10% formalin, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at a
TRAP assay
Telomerase activity was detected in 107 (93%) of the 115 lung carcinomas (Fig 2).
Discussion
Over the past few years, numerous studies have shown that telomerase is expressed and active in various types of tumors.21 Since the first report by Hiyama et al41 in 1995, many studies have shown that telomerase is found in lung cancers.42, 43, 44 However, the relationships between the telomerase activity and the clinicopathologic features of these tumors, and the localization of this enzyme in paraffin sections of formalin-fixed tissues, have not been clarified. These questions have been
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Address correspondence and reprint requests to Fumiyuki Kumaki, MD, Pathology Section, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 10/2N240, 10 Center Dr MSC-1518, Bethesda, MD 20892.