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Vol.38 No.7 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
The Utility of Telomerase Activity in Bronchial Lavage for the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer
Hiroyuki Deguchi, Nariyoshi Shinomiya*, Yuichi Ozeki, Mitsuharu Sato, Motohisa Kuwahara, Shyuji Haraguchi, Toshiro Ogata** and Susumu TanakaDepartment of Surgery II and *Microbiology, National Defense Medical College, **Health Examination Center, School of Medicine, Tokai University
To evaluate its utility as a supplemental diagnostic aid, we measured telomerase activity in bronchial lavage specimens of 33 lung cancer cases and 15 non-lung cancer cases by the non-RI TRAP method. Lung cancers showed a higher proportion of positive telomerase activity (78.8%) than non-lung cancer cases (26.7%). The proportion of positive telomerase activity in lung cancers by histological typing was squamous cell carcinoma 88.9%, adenocarcinoma 81.3%, large cell carcinoma 50%, and small cell carcinoma 66.7%, respectively. When divided by cytological appearance, the proportion of positive telomerase activity was class II 36.4%, class III 33.3%, class IV and V 91.3%, suggesting that the proportion of positive telomerase activity increases as the grade of cytologic abnormality rises (Spearman: p=0.0001) . Class II cases finally diagnosed as lung cancer showed a higher proportion of positive telomerase activity (57.1%) than non-lung cancer cases (26.7%). These results suggest that the measurement of telomerase activity in the cells of bronchial lavage fluid may be useful as a supplemental diagnostic aid for lung cancers, particularly in cases negative on cytological examination.
key words: Telomerase, TRAP assay, Bronchial lavage, Lung cancer
Received: July 21, 1998
Accepted: September 22, 1998
JJLC 38 (7): 815-823, 1998
