Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2016; 37(03): 183-188
DOI: 10.4103/0971-5851.190350
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Quantification of telomerase activity in normal oral mucosal tissue and oral squamous cell carcinoma

Arpita Rai
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
,
Venkatesh G Naikmasur
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, S.D.M. College of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
,
Atul Sattur
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, SDM College of Dental Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
› Further Information
  PDF Download Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Background and Objective: The role of telomeres and telomerase in oral cancer is an area of much recent interest. The understanding of the role of telomere biology, the end replication problem leading to genomic instability and the reactivation of telomerase, is absolutely critical to our understanding of oral cancer, and more so, to our ability of early diagnosis and developing novel therapies and cancer prevention approaches. The aim of the present study was to quantify telomerase activity (TA) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and normal oral mucosa and assess the role of telomerase as diagnostic and prognostic marker of oral malignancy. Materials and Methods: We quantified TA in 45 patients with OSCC and 20 normal oral mucosal specimens using polymerase chain reaction-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay and compared it with the clinical status and grade of malignancy. Results: TA was detected in 89% of malignant and 5% of normal oral mucosal tissue. The TA levels ranged from 0.28 to 6.91 (mean 2.05, standard deviation [SD] 1.33) in OSCC and 0.21 to 1.09 (mean 0.54, SD 0.27) in normal oral mucosa. There was no relationship between TA levels and clinical stages, site of the lesion, history of adverse habits, or sex of the patient. However, under the WHO classification, there were significant differences P < 0.00) between Grades I, II, and III. Furthermore, increasing age of the patient significantly correlated with TA. Interpretation and Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that activation of TA is frequent in OSCC. Statistically significant difference in quantified telomerase levels of OSCC and normal oral mucosa P < 0.00) demonstrates the significant clinical usefulness of telomerase activation as a valuable marker for diagnosis while significant correlation of TA with grades of malignancy indicates its effectiveness as marker for prognosis of OSCC.

Keywords

Biomarker - squamous cell carcinoma - telomerase - telomere


Publication History

Article published online:
12 July 2021

© 2016. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India

 

  • References

  • 1 Epstein JB, Zhang L, Rosin M. Advances in the diagnosis of oral premalignant and malignant lesions. J Can Dent Assoc 2002;68:617-21.
  • 2 Kannan S, Tahara H, Yokozaki H, Mathew B, Nalinakumari KR, Nair MK, et al. Telomerase activity in premalignant and malignant lesions of human oral mucosa. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1997;6:413-20.
  • 3 Morin GB. The implications of telomerase biochemistry for human disease. Eur J Cancer 1997;33:750-60.
  • 4 Allsopp RC, Vaziri H, Patterson C, Goldstein S, Younglai EV, Futcher AB, et al. Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1992;89:10114-8.
  • 5 Harley CB, Villeponteau B. Telomeres and telomerase in aging and cancer. Curr Opin Genet Dev 1995;5:249-55.
  • 6 Kim NW, Piatyszek MA, Prowse KR, Harley CB, West MD, Ho PL, et al. Specific association of human telomerase activity with immortal cells and cancer. Science 1994;266:2011-5.
  • 7 Meyerson M. Role of telomerase in normal and cancer cells. J Clin Oncol 2000;18:2626-34.
  • 8 Fujita H, Nagata M, Hoshina H, Nagashima K, Seki Y, Tanaka K, et al. Clinical significance and usefulness of quantification of telomerase activity in oral malignant and nonmalignant lesions. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2004;33:693-9.
  • 9 Patel MM, Parekh LJ, Jha FP, Sainger RN, Patel JB, Patel DD, et al. Clinical usefulness of telomerase activation and telomere length in head and neck cancer. Head Neck 2002;24:1060-7.
  • 10 Gellert GC, Jackson SR, Dikmen ZG, Wright WE, Shay JW. Telomerase as a therapeutic target in cancer. Drug Discov Today Dis Mech 2005;2:159-64.
  • 11 Hiyama E, Hiyama K. Telomerase as tumor marker. Cancer Lett 2003;194:221-33.
  • 12 Yajima Y, Noma H, Furuya Y, Nomura T, Yamauchi T, Kasahara K, et al. Quantification of telomerase activity of regions unstained with iodine solution that surround oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol 2004;40:314-20.
  • 13 Califano J, Ahrendt SA, Meininger G, Westra WH, Koch WM, Sidransky D. Detection of telomerase activity in oral rinses from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. Cancer Res 1996;56:5720-2.
  • 14 Liao J, Mitsuyasu T, Yamane K, Ohishi M. Telomerase activity in oral and maxillofacial tumors. Oral Oncol 2000;36:347-52.
  • 15 Koscielny S, Eggeling F, Dahse R, Fiedler W. The influence of reactivation of the telomerase in tumour tissue on the prognosis of squamous cell carcinomas in the head and neck. J Oral Pathol Med 2004;33:538-42.
  • 16 Mao L, El-Naggar AK, Fan YH, Lee JS, Lippman SM, Kayser S, et al. Telomerase activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and adjacent tissues. Cancer Res 1996;56:5600-4.
  • 17 Curran AJ, St. Denis K, Irish J, Gullane PJ, MacMillan C, Kamel-Reid S. Telomerase activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998;124:784-8.
  • 18 Sumida T, Sogawa K, Hamakawa H, Sugita A, Tanioka H, Ueda N. Detection of telomerase activity in oral lesions. J Oral Pathol Med 1998;27:111-5.
  • 19 Miyoshi Y, Tsukinoki K, Imaizumi T, Yamada Y, Ishizaki T, Watanabe Y, et al. Telomerase activity in oral cancer. Oral Oncol 1999;35:283-9.
  • 20 Thurnher D, Knerer B, Formanek M, Kornfehl J. Non-radioactive semiquantitative testing for the expression levels of telomerase activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas may be indicative for biological tumour behaviour. Acta Otolaryngol 1998;118:423-7.
  • 21 Patel MM, Patel DD, Parekh LJ, Raval GN, Rawal RM, Bhatavdekar JM, et al. Evaluation of telomerase activation in head and neck cancer. Oral Oncol 1999;35:510-5.
  • 22 Chang LY, Lin SC, Chang CS, Wong YK, Hu YC, Chang KW. Telomerase activity and in situ telomerase RNA expression in oral carcinogenesis. J Oral Pathol Med 1999;28:389-96.
  • 23 Xian J, Liu S, Zhou G, Yiang H. Modified quantitative determination of telomerase activity in human head and neck malignant tumor. Lin Chuang Er Bi Yan Hou Ke Za Zhi 2003;17:285-7.
  • 24 Leary T, Jones PL, Appleby M, Blight A, Parkinson K, Stanley M. Epidermal keratinocyte self-renewal is dependent upon dermal integrity. J Invest Dermatol 1992;99:422-30.
  • 25 Ramadas K, Sankaranarayanan R, Jacob BJ, Thomas G, Somanathan T, Mahé C, et al. Interim results from a cluster randomized controlled oral cancer screening trial in Kerala, India. Oral Oncol 2003;39:580-8.
  • 26 Broccoli D, Young JW, de Lange T. Telomerase activity in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1995;92:9082-6.
  • 27 Bickenbach JR, Vormwald-Dogan V, Bachor C, Bleuel K, Schnapp G, Boukamp P. Telomerase is not an epidermal stem cell marker and is downregulated by calcium. J Invest Dermatol 1998;111:1045-52.
  • 28 Kim HR, Christensen R, Park NH, Sapp P, Kang MK, Park NH. Elevated expression of hTERT is associated with dysplastic cell transformation during human oral carcinogenesis in situ. Clin Cancer Res 2001;7:3079-86.