Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Utilizing Murine Inducible Telomerase Alleles in the Studies of Tissue Degeneration/Regeneration and Cancer
Published on: April 13, 2015
Unusually stable abnormal karyotype in a highly aggressive melanoma negative for telomerase activity
Sarantis Gagos1, George Papaioannou, Maria Chiourea
1Division of Genetics, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Greece (BRFAA). sgagos@bioacademy.gr.
Abstract:
Malignant melanomas are characterized by increased karyotypic complexity, extended aneuploidy and heteroploidy. We report a melanoma metastasis to the peritoneal cavity with an exceptionally stable, abnormal pseudodiploid karyotype as verified by G-Banding, subtelomeric, centromeric and quantitative Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH). Interestingly this tumor had no detectable telomerase activity as indicated by the Telomere Repeat Amplification Protocol. Telomeric Flow-FISH and quantitative telomeric FISH on mitotic preparations showed that malignant cells had relatively short telomeres. Microsatellite instability was ruled out by the allelic pattern of two major mononucleotide repeats. Our data suggest that a combination of melanoma specific genomic imbalances were sufficient and enough for this fatal tumor progression, that was not accompanied by genomic instability, telomerase activity, or the engagement of the alternative recombinatorial telomere lengthening pathway.
Related Concept Videos
Abnormal Proliferation
Replicative Cell Senescence
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
Karyotyping
Karyotyping

