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Telomerase activity in disseminated prostate cancer cells
Author(s) -
PFITZENMAIER JESCO,
ELLIS WILLIAM J.,
ARFMAN EDWARD W.,
HAWLEY SARAH,
MCLAUGHLIN PATRICK O.,
LANGE PAUL H.,
VESSELLA ROBERT L.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-410x.2006.06194.x
Subject(s) - telomerase , prostate cancer , bone marrow , prostate , cancer cell , pathology , cancer , medicine , cancer research , biology , oncology , biochemistry , gene
OBJECTIVE To analyse telomerase activity in disseminated prostate cancer cells isolated from bone marrow aspirates taken from men with localized prostate cancer before radical prostatectomy (RP). PATIENTS AND METHODS Disseminated epithelial prostate cancer cells were isolated from bone marrow aspirates from 69 men with localized prostate cancer before RP, by magnetic column‐chromatography enrichment, followed by isolation of fluorescently labelled epithelial cells by micropipetting. We used pools of 10 non‐epithelial bone marrow cells after tumour cell enrichment as control samples. These pure cell pools were tested for the presence of telomerase activity. RESULTS In all, 49 of the patient samples contained disseminated prostate cancer cells. Homogeneous pools of 10 cells were obtained from 35 of these; 49% of the 35 specimens showed telomerase activity, whereas all five control samples did not. Telomerase activity in the 35 samples was not significantly associated with Gleason score, preoperative prostate‐specific antigen level, tumour stage, or surgical margin status. Follow‐up is continuing to assess an association with disease recurrence. CONCLUSION This work shows the feasibility of isolating disseminated cancer cells for analysing individual or pooled cells. Compared to tissue staining, where telomerase is detected in 80–90% of samples, we found lower rates of telomerase activity in the disseminated tumour cells (49%). Telomerase‐negative cells might provide information about cell dormancy, as telomerase is a marker of cell proliferation in immortal and cancer cells. Telomerase‐positive cells might predict early disease recurrence, but a longer follow‐up is needed to test this possibility.