Immunohistochemical Detection of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase in Normal Mucosa and Precancerous Lesions of the Stomach

Telomerase activity confers cell immortality through stabilization of the chromosome, participating in the development of a majority of human cancers. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) has been identified as a catalytic subunit of telomerase, and is overexpressed in most gastric carcinom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer science 1999-06, Vol.90 (6), p.589-595
Main Authors: Yasui, Wataru, Tahara, Eiji, Tahara, Hidetoshi, Fujimoto, Junya, Naka, Kazuhito, Nakayama, Junichi, Ishikawa, Fuyuki, Ide, Toshinori, Tahara, Eiichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adenoma
Adenoma - enzymology
Biological and medical sciences
Carcinogenesis
Carcinoma
DNA-Binding Proteins
Epithelial cells
Gastric adenoma
Gastric cancer
Gastric mucosa
Gastric Mucosa - enzymology
Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen
Glands
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Intestinal metaplasia
Intestine
Medical sciences
Metaplasia
Nuclei
Precancerous Conditions - enzymology
RNA
RNA-directed DNA polymerase
Stomach
Stomach Neoplasms - enzymology
Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus
Telomerase
Telomerase - genetics
Telomerase - metabolism
Telomerase reverse transcriptase
Tumors
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Summary:Telomerase activity confers cell immortality through stabilization of the chromosome, participating in the development of a majority of human cancers. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) has been identified as a catalytic subunit of telomerase, and is overexpressed in most gastric carcinomas. We immunohistochemically examined the expression of TERT in normal gastric mucosa and candidate precancerous lesions such as intestinal metaplasia and adenoma. In non‐neoplastic gastric mucosa including intestinal metaplasia and normal fundic mucosa, weak but significant expression of TERT was detected in nuclei of epithelial cells located in the lower two‐thirds of the glands (wider than the proliferative zone). The telomerase activity was found in a half of gastric adenomas, whose levels of the activity were about 10% of those in gastric carcinomas. TERT protein was expressed in the nuclei of the adenoma cells at moderate levels, that were not necessarily comparable with the telomerase activities. These findings overall suggest that TERT expression may be one of the prerequisites for telomerase activation in an early stage of stomach carcinogenesis.
ISSN:0910-5050
1347-9032
1349-7006
1876-4673
DOI:10.1111/j.1349-7006.1999.tb00787.x