[Telomerase activity as a novel marker of lung cancer]

Telomerase activity is found in more than 80% of human malignant neoplasms, including lung cancer. Markers with high incidence in malignant samples and very low incidence in benign samples are useful in clinical diagnosis of cancer. Thus, telomerase activity in clinical materials may become a novel tumor marker of existing lung cancer cells. Moreover, since activation of telomerase is associated with cellular immortality and its activity level is quite different between lung cancer tissues, the activity level may become an indicator of some biological features in lung cancer.