Clinical significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase in patients with colon cancer

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Although telomerase activity can be detected in 70%-90% malignant tumor tissues, it is still a controversial prognostic factor of patients with malignant tumors. This study was to evaluate clinical significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) in patients with colon cancer. METHODS: Expression of hTERT in 59 matched pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumorous mucosa samples from patients with colon cancer who underwent complete resection were measured by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: Expression of hTERT in both tumor samples and nontumorous mucosa samples has no significant correlation with clinicopathologic factors. Of 32 patients with colon cancer of Dukes' A, and B stages, prognosis of 18 (56%) patients with hTERT expression of lower than 0.60 in tumor tissue was better than that of 27 (44%) patients with hTERT expression of higher than 0.60 (P=0.006), prognosis of 20 (62%) patients with the value of hTERT expression in tumor tissue subtracted from that in matched non-tumorous tissue below 0.50 was better than that of 12 (38%) patients with that value above 0.50 (P=0.035). In 27 patients with colon cancer of Dukes' C, and D stages, it was not practical to estimate the patients' prognosis with hTERT expression level in tumor tissue and the expression difference between tumor tissue and non-tumorous tissue. CONCLUSION: hTERT expression may be a potential prognostic index for patients with colon cancer of Dukes' A, and B stages