S Wu1, C T Liew, X Li. 1. Department of Anatomical and Cellular Patholoty, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare telomerase activity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with that of chronic liver disease to analyze the significance of telomerase activity in diagnosis of malignancy. METHODS: Telomerase activity was detected in 38 cases of HCC and corresponding non-tumor liver tissue with different chronic disease. That is 21 cases of hepatic cirrhosis, 2 cases of mild fibrosis, 2 cases of chronic viral hepatitis and 7 cases of non-tumor liver with no significant histopathological changes using TRAP assay. 4 cases of biliary atresia were also detected and 4 cases of normal liver tissue were the control. RESULTS: Telomerase activity was detected in 32 of 38 (86.8%) cases of HCC. Telomerase activity in HCC was not related with tumor cell differentiation types, tumor size and HBV infection, but expression of telomerase was highly correlated with serum alpha-fetal protein (AFP) level of patients. Telomerase negative HCC group has statistically significant lower level of AFP (P < 0.01) when compared with telomerase positive HCC groups. Telomerase activity was not present in normal liver tissue (0/4), biliary atresia (0/4), mild fibrosis (0/2), chronic viral hepatitis (0/4) and no significant changes of non-tumor liver tissue (0/7). Weak telomerase activity was detected in 4 of 21 hepatic cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: Telomerase activity was only detected in most of HCC and few cases of hepatic cirrhosis, which may play a crucial role in hepatocarcinogenesis and may be useful for the diagnosis of malignancy.
OBJECTIVE: To compare telomerase activity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with that of chronic liver disease to analyze the significance of telomerase activity in diagnosis of malignancy. METHODS: Telomerase activity was detected in 38 cases of HCC and corresponding non-tumor liver tissue with different chronic disease. That is 21 cases of hepatic cirrhosis, 2 cases of mild fibrosis, 2 cases of chronic viral hepatitis and 7 cases of non-tumor liver with no significant histopathological changes using TRAP assay. 4 cases of biliary atresia were also detected and 4 cases of normal liver tissue were the control. RESULTS: Telomerase activity was detected in 32 of 38 (86.8%) cases of HCC. Telomerase activity in HCC was not related with tumor cell differentiation types, tumor size and HBV infection, but expression of telomerase was highly correlated with serum alpha-fetal protein (AFP) level of patients. Telomerase negative HCC group has statistically significant lower level of AFP (P < 0.01) when compared with telomerase positive HCC groups. Telomerase activity was not present in normal liver tissue (0/4), biliary atresia (0/4), mild fibrosis (0/2), chronic viral hepatitis (0/4) and no significant changes of non-tumor liver tissue (0/7). Weak telomerase activity was detected in 4 of 21 hepatic cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: Telomerase activity was only detected in most of HCC and few cases of hepatic cirrhosis, which may play a crucial role in hepatocarcinogenesis and may be useful for the diagnosis of malignancy.