Assay of Telomerase Activity in Induced Sputum in the Diagnosis and Therapy of Lung Neoplasms

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of detecting telomerase activity in induced sputum in patients with lung cancer.Methods The telomerase activities in induced sputa and spontaneous sputa from 30 patients with lung cancer and 15 patients with benign lung disease were assayed with TRAP-PCR-ELISA.Results The positive rates of telomerase activity in induced sputum,spontaneous sputum from lung cancer patients,and induced sputum from benign lung disease patients were respectively 80.0%,56.7% and 13.3%; and the mean OD values were respectively(0.52±0.27),(0.35±0.25)and(0.09±0.11).The positive rate and OD value in induced sputum from patients with lung cancer was statistically significantly higher than those in spontaneous sputum and control groups ( P 0.01).After chemotherapy,the mean OD value of telomerase activity in induced sputa of 10 cases of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was decreased obviously,with a significant difference ( P 0.01).Conclusion The detection of telomerase activity in induced sputum may be helpful to the diagnosis and therapy of lung cancer,and the differential diagnosis with other benign lung diseases; and it is better than that in spontaneous sputum.