BACKGROUNDTo investigate the relationship between the telomerase activity and telomerase component expression in lung cancer, and to explore whether telomerase activity is regulated at the gene or transcriptional level.

METHODSExpression of the hTR and hTERT were detected in 68 human lung cancer tissues and responsive adjacent non-neoplastic lung tissues by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Telomerase activity was detected by telomeric repeat amplification protocol.

RESULTSIn 68 lung cancer tissues, the positive rate of the telomerase activity, hTR and hTERT expression were 79.4% (54/68), 98.5% (67/68) and 91.2% (62/68) respectively. Whereas most adjacent non-neoplastic lung tissues expressed hTR (62/68, 91.2%) also, hTERT was detected in only 7 (10.3%) normal lung tissues and no telomerase activity were detected in the 68 non-neoplastic lung cancer tissues. As compared with hTR, hTERT expression was closely related to telomerase activity. The concordance was 89.0% (121/136), whereas the concordance between telomerase and hTR was 43.4% (59/136).

CONCLUSIONSThe results suggest that telomerase may play an important role in tumorigenesis of lung cancer. Telomerase activity may be regulated in transcription level or translation level.