Correlation between p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and human telomerase reverse transcriptase in sarcomas

• Published in: Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research 2012-01, Vol.31 (1), p.5-5, Article 5
• Main Authors: Matsuo, Toshihiro, Shimose, Shoji, Kubo, Tadahiko, Fujimori, Jun, Yasunaga, Yuji, Sugita, Takashi, Ochi, Mitsuo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Enzymes; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic aspects; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous - genetics; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous - metabolism; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous - pathology; human telomerase reverse transcriptase; Humans; Kinases; liposarcoma; Male; malignant fibrous histiocytoma; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - genetics; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Pathogenesis; Physiological aspects; Prognosis; Protein kinases; Proteins; Sarcoma; Studies; Telomerase; Telomerase - genetics; Telomerase - metabolism
• ISSN: 1756-9966; 0392-9078; 1756-9966
• DOI: 10.1186/1756-9966-31-5

One of the major components of telomerase is the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) as the catalytic protein. hTERT mRNA expression are reported to be associated with prognosis and tumor progression in several sarcomas. However, there is no clear understanding of the mechanisms of hTERT in human sarcomas. Recent studies have suggested that signals transmitted through p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) can increase or decrease hTERT transcription in human cells. The purpose of this study was to analyse the correlation between p38 MAPK and hTERT in sarcoma samples. We investigated 36 soft tissue malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH), 24 liposarcomas (LS) and 9 bone MFH samples for hTERT and p38 MAPK expression. Quantitative detection of hTERT and p38 MAPK was performed by RT-PCR. There was a significant positive correlation between the values of hTERT and p38 MAPK in all samples (r = 0.445, p = 0.0001), soft tissue MFH (r = 0.352, p = 0.0352), LS (r = 0.704, p = 0.0001) and bone MFH samples (r = 0.802, p = 0.0093). Patients who had a higher than average expression of p38 MAPK had a significantly worse prognosis than other patients (p = 0.0036). p38 MAPK may play a role in up-regulation of hTERT, and therefore, p38 MAPK may be a useful marker in the assessment of hTERT and patients' prognosis in sarcomas.