Telomerase activation in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours is associated with aberrant TERT promoter methylation, but not hot-spot mutations.

ABSTRACT: Telomere maintenance is a critical requirement for enabling replicative immortality and tumour development. Here, telomerase expression and activity, telomere length (TL) and potential regulatory factors that can underlie telomerase machinery alterations in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours (SI-NETs) were analyzed. Telomerase activity assessed by TRAP assay was increased in SI-NETs compared to normal ileum (P < 0.001). The telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (TERT) was over-expressed in SI-NETs vs. normal ileal samples (P = 0.01). Furthermore, relative TL assessed by qPCR was found shorter in tumours compared with normal ileum (P = 0.02) and in distant metastasis samples compared to primary tumours and local metastases (P= 0.02). TERT promo

SUBMITTER: Fotouhi O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6791720 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature