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Telomerase activity in ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer

Oncogene volume 18, pages 3407–3414 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The increasing number of breast carcinoma in situ detected by screening procedures makes it imperative to develop improved markers to stratify the risk of invasive cancer. Telomerase is detectable in invasive cancer, but not in normal tissues. We have microdissected frozen tissue blocks containing both DCIS and invasive cancer to assay the telomerase activity of these two lesions. The 46 available cases of concurrent DCIS and invasive breast cancer resulted in 43 DCIS samples and 38 invasive cancer samples adequate for analysis. Seventy per cent of the DCIS and all invasive cancer samples tested had detectable telomerase activity. In addition, we analysed telomerase activity in ten cases of DCIS that were not associated with invasive cancer, and detected telomerase activity in seven (70%). Mixing experiments showed no evidence of telomerase inhibitors in telomerase negative samples. Furthermore, periductal inflammatory infiltrates were shown to be a potential confounding source of telomerase activity. Since DCIS lesions appear to be heterogeneous with respect to telomerase activity, and telomerase activation appears to precede the development of invasive cancer, telomerase activity may be a useful adjunct in stratifying the risk of developing invasive breast cancer in patients with DCIS.

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Abbreviations

DCIS:

Ductal carcinoma in situ

TRAP:

telomerase repeat amplification protocol

TLB:

Telomerase lysis buffer

ag:

attogram

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

IC:

internal control

RT – PCR:

reverse transcriptase – PCR

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by United States Army Medical Research Grant DAMD17-96-6236 to S Sukumar and by Grant #9610 from the Susan G Komen Foundation to CB Umbricht.

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Author notes

  1. L A Carey

    Present address: Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Ross Building 370, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205, Maryland, USA

    C B Umbricht, J Dome, L A Carey & S Sukumar

  2. Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Ross Building 370, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205, Maryland, USA

    M E Sherman

  3. Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    J Marks

  4. Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, California, USA

    N Kim

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  1. C B Umbricht
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Umbricht, C., Sherman, M., Dome, J. et al. Telomerase activity in ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer. Oncogene 18, 3407–3414 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1202714

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