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Telomerase Activity in Human Brain Tumors: Astrocytoma and Meningioma

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Abstract

Somatic cells do not have telomerase activity but immortalized cell lines and more than 85 % of the cancer cells show telomerase activation to prevent the telomere from progressive shortening. The activation of this enzyme has been found in a variety of human tumors and tumor-derived cell lines, but only few studies on telomerase activity in human brain tumors have been reported. Here, we evaluated telomerase activity in different grades of human astrocytoma and meningioma brain tumors. In this study, assay for telomerase activity performed on 50 eligible cases consisted of 26 meningioma, 24 astrocytoma according to the standard protocols. In the brain tissues, telomerase activity was positive in 39 (65 %) of 50 patients. One sample t test showed that the telomerase activity in meningioma and astrocytoma tumors was significantly positive entirely (P < 0.001). Also, grade I of meningioma and low grades of astrocytoma (grades I and II) significantly showed telomerase activity. According to our results, we suggest that activation of telomerase is an event that starts mostly at low grades of brain including meningioma and astrocytoma tumors.

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  The authors report no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Inherited Diseases Research Center, Genetics and Molecular Biology Department, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Majid Kheirollahi

  2. Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Ave, P.O. Box 14155-6447, 14176-13151, Tehran, Iran

    Majid Kheirollahi, Javad Mohammadi-asl & Parvin Mehdipour

  3. Department of Neuro-surgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Masoud Mehrazin

  4. Department of Pathology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Naser Kamalian

Authors
  1. Majid Kheirollahi
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  2. Masoud Mehrazin
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  3. Naser Kamalian
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  4. Javad Mohammadi-asl
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  5. Parvin Mehdipour
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Correspondence to Parvin Mehdipour.

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Kheirollahi, M., Mehrazin, M., Kamalian, N. et al. Telomerase Activity in Human Brain Tumors: Astrocytoma and Meningioma. Cell Mol Neurobiol 33, 569–574 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-013-9923-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-013-9923-x

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