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Updated: Jun 7, 2026
Semi-quantitative Detection of RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase Activity of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Protein
Published on: June 12, 2018
[The value of detecting telomerase activity on early diagnosis of lung cancer]
1Department of Oncology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221002, P.R.China.
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.
