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Updated: Jan 30, 2026
10:14
Telomerase Activity in the Various Regions of Mouse Brain: Non-Radioactive Telomerase Repeat Amplification Protocol TRAP Assay
Published on: September 2, 2014
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Advances in optical assays for detecting telomerase activity
Bing Yang1, Lu Shi1, Jing Lei1
1Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province, Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
Luminescence : the Journal of Biological and Chemical Luminescence
|February 2, 2019
Summary
Telomerase maintains telomere length and is upregulated in most human tumors, making it a key tumor biomarker. This review summarizes recent optical assays for reliable telomerase activity detection.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Oncology
Background:
- Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme responsible for synthesizing telomeric DNA repeats (TTAGGG) at chromosome ends.
- Telomere length maintenance is crucial for cellular stability, and its dysregulation is linked to cancer.
- Elevated telomerase activity is observed in approximately 85% of human tumors, distinguishing them from normal somatic cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and summarize recently developed optical assay methods for detecting telomerase activity.
- To highlight the importance of reliable telomerase activity assays for cancer diagnosis and management.
- To categorize these assays based on their signal readout mechanisms.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent scientific literature on telomerase activity assays.
- Categorization of optical assays based on signal detection: chemiluminescence, colorimetric, and fluorescence.
- Analysis of the principles and applications of each assay type.
Main Results:
- Telomerase activity is significantly higher in human tumors than in somatic cells.
- Various optical assay formats, including chemiluminescence, colorimetric, and fluorescence assays, have been developed.
- These assays offer sensitive and reliable methods for quantifying telomerase activity.
Conclusions:
- Telomerase serves as a critical biomarker for malignant tumors due to its upregulated activity.
- Accurate measurement of telomerase activity is essential for effective cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
- Advancements in optical assay technologies provide powerful tools for clinical applications in oncology.
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