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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Utilizing Murine Inducible Telomerase Alleles in the Studies of Tissue Degeneration/Regeneration and Cancer
Published on: April 13, 2015
Telomerase activity in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
Shu-zhen Wang1, Jian-heng Sun, Wei Zhang
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chaoyang Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100020, China. darrywang2003@yahoo.com
Background:
It was reported that telomerase expression is closely associated with cellular immortality and cancer. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between telomerase expression and the carcinogenesis of cervical cancer, the possible use of telomerase as a marker of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) progression or regression, and the natural history of CIN.
Methods:
Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay was used to measure telomerase activity in cervical scrapings and biopsy samples obtained from 105 cases affected with various cervical conditions, including chronic cervicitis (n = 20), CIN (n = 64, 16 cases of CIN I, 20 cases of CIN II, and 28 cases of CIN III), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (n = 21).
Results:
In exfoliated cell samples, telomerase activity was detected in 5 of 20 (25.0%) cases of cervicitis, 10 of 16 (62.5%) cases of CIN I, 11 of 20 (55.0%) cases of CIN II, 23 of 28 (82.1%) cases of CIN III, and 13 of 21 (61.9%) cases of carcinoma. In cervical biopsy samples, telomerase activity was detected in 6 of 20 (30.0%) cases of cervicitis, 8 of 16 (50.0%) cases of CIN I, 9 of 20 (45.0%) cases of CIN II, 27 of 28 (96.4%) cases of CIN III, and 20 of 21 (95.2%) cases of carcinoma. Telomerase activation was significantly higher in CIN samples than in cervicitis samples. Telomerase activity was detected at similar frequency in samples from cervical scrapings and cervical biopsies.
Conclusion:
These results seem to suggest that telomerase expression may be associated with carcinogenesis of the cervix. TRAP assay of cervical scraping samples could be used to monitor and predict the development of CIN in clinical practice.
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