Increased Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA Expression but not Telomerase Activity is Related to Survival in Curatively Resected Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA expression and telomerase activity as prognostic markers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods: In a series of 69 curatively resected NSCLC specimens, telomerase activity was analyzed with the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and expression of hTERT mRNA by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Partitioning of gene expression levels and protein activities to construct prognostic groups was attempted. Results: Human hTERT mRNA transcripts were detected in 62 (89.9%) cases of NSCLC. Seven (10.1%) tumors were completely negative for hTERT expression. Dichotomized hTERT levels (