Expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase and c-myc oncogene in lung cancer

Objective To investigate the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase(hTERT)and c-myc oncogene and its relation to telomerase activity in the carcinogenesis of lung cancer.Methods Telomerase activity was detected in tissues samples from lung cancers and adjacent non-cancer lung tissues by telomeric repeat amplification protocol(TRAP).The hTERTmRNA and c-myc oncoprotein were examined in these samples with in situ reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical method,respectively.Results The positive rates of telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA were 73.2% and 78.0% in 41 samples of lung cancers,respectively,significantly higher than those of adjacent non-cancer lung tissues group( P 0.01).It was found that c-myc oncoprotein was positive in 80.5% (33/41) samples of lung cancers and in 15.6%(5/41)adjacent non-cancer lung tissues( P 0.01). There was a significant correlation between the expression of hTERTmRNA and telomerase activity( r =0.707, P 0.01).The expressions of c-myc oncoprotein and hTERTmRNA were also noticed to be highly correlated( r =0.609, P 0.01).Conclusion The overexpression of hTERTmRNA may play an important role in the carcinogenesis of lung cancer and telomerase activation.The c-myc oncoprotein may trans-activate hTERTmRNA overexpression,which is related to the development of lung cancer.