Aim: To investigate the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (hTRT) in gastric cancer (GC) and its relevance with cell cycle regulators including P16INK4, cyclin and P53.
Methods: In situ hybridization (ISH) for hTRT mRNA was performed in 53 cases of gastric cancer and adjacent cancerous tissues. Immunohistochemical staining (S-P method) for hTRT protein, P16INK4, cyclinD1 and P53 was performed in 53 cases of GC and adjacent cancerous tissues.
Results: Of 53 cases of GC, the expression of hTRT mRNA and hTRT protein was significantly higher than the expression of hTRT mRNA and hTRT protein in adjacent canerous tissues (P<0.01), the positive rates of hTRTmRNA and hTRT protein were 79.2 % and 88.6 %. There was a stastical difference of the expression of hTRT protein among well differentiated adenocarcinoma, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and mucoid carcinoma. And there was a highly significant positive correlation between the expression of hTRT mRNA and hTRT protein (r=0.625, P<0.01). However, the expression of hTRT mRNA and its protein in GC were not related with other clinicopathological parameters including gender, age, location and size of neoplasm, invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage. There was a significant positive correlation between the expression of hTRT mRNA and cyclinD1 protein (r=0.350, P<0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between the expression of cyclinD1 protein and hTRT protein (r=0.549, P<0.01), so was between P53 and hTRT protein (r=0.319, P<0.05).
Conclusion: The expression of hTRT gene is correlated significantly to the specific defects of cell cycle on G1/S check point; telomerase activity may depend on cell cycle in gastric cancer and it is available to clarify the molecular mechanism of telomerase activity regulation. The expression of hTRT mRNA and hTRT protein in GC is significantly different from the expression of hTRT mRNA and hTRT protein in adjacent cancerous tissue which indicates that these targets are correlated closely to the occurrence of GC and can provide important morphologic index for diagnosis of GC.