Open AccessImmunohistochemical Detection of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase in Normal Mucosa and Precancerous Lesions of the Stomach
Author(s) -
Yasui Wataru,
Tahara Eiji,
Tahara Hidetoshi,
Fujimoto Junya,
Naka Kazuhito,
Nakayama Junichi,
Ishikawa Fuyuki,
Ide Toshinori,
Tahara Eiichi
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
japanese journal of cancer research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 0910-5050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1349-7006.1999.tb00787.x
Subject(s) - telomerase , intestinal metaplasia , telomerase reverse transcriptase , gastric mucosa , biology , stomach , immunohistochemistry , pathology , carcinogenesis , metaplasia , adenoma , cancer , medicine , immunology , biochemistry , genetics , gene
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.