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Serum human telomerase reverse transcriptase: a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis

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International Journal of Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex composed mainly of a reverse transcriptase catalytic subunit, telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). Expression of hTERT confers telomerase activity, indicating that hTERT is the rate-limiting component of human telomerase. The aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic implications of hTERT in the serum of breast cancer patients.

Methods

The study was conducted on 159 breast cancer patients and 41 healthy volunteers as controls. The evaluation of hTERT, cancer antigen 15.3 and carcinoembryonic antigen were performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and analysed for their correlation with the patient’s clinicopathological features.

Results

27 of 52 (51.9%) patients with stage I breast cancer, 31 of 40 (77.5%) with stage II and 30 of 34 (88.2%) patients with stage III exhibited elevated hTERT levels. Serum hTERT levels showed significantly higher mean values in patients with breast cancer than healthy individuals. The sensitivity and specificity of hTERT in cancer diagnosis was 68.9 and 83.3%, respectively, which is significantly higher than conventional markers. The expression of serum hTERT was significantly correlated with telomerase activity in breast cancer tissues. Pretreatment serum hTERT levels showed a significant correlation with clinical stage, while correlation with nodal status and tumor size were marginal and no correlation was found with family history and age.

Conclusion

Serum hTERT is useful for diagnosing and assessing the clinical stage of breast cancer and is superior to conventional markers. Therefore, serum hTERT could have a potential application as a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis.

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Acknowledgments

MP is thankful to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India for the award to JRF and SRF.

Conflict of interest

No author has any conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Kakatiya University, Warangal, 506 009, AP, India

    Mahendar Porika, Radhika Tippani, Sree Divya Panuganti, Christopher Thamidala & Sadanandam Abbagani

  2. Rohini Hospital, Warangal, AP, India

    Sekhar R. Bollam

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  1. Mahendar Porika
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  2. Radhika Tippani
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  3. Sekhar R. Bollam
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  4. Sree Divya Panuganti
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  5. Christopher Thamidala
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  6. Sadanandam Abbagani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sadanandam Abbagani.

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Porika, M., Tippani, R., Bollam, S.R. et al. Serum human telomerase reverse transcriptase: a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis. Int J Clin Oncol 16, 617–622 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-011-0230-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-011-0230-6

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