Progress in research on the relation between telomerase and gynecological tumor

Telomerase is a kind of RNA dependent reverse transcriptase which can lengthen telomere in the endings of chromosome and it is composed of three major subunits: human telomerase RNA (hTR), human telomerase catalytic subunit(hTERT) and telomerase associated protein(TP1) that links the former two subunits together. Activation of telomerase is the critical step in cellular immortality and oncogenesis. Its activity is controled by many factors. Human telomerase catalytic subunit mRNA may be the critical rate limiting step in the activation of telolmerase. In the process of carcinogenesis of gynecological tumor , telomerase activity elevates at varying degrees, the expresson of hTERT is up regulated continuously. Telomerase and it's catalytic subunit hTERT may become important tumor markers for the screening of gynecological tumors.