Establishment of telomerase-based novel gene therapy and diagnosis for gynecologic tumors

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To examine the possibility of novel tumor markers, telomerase activity was measured by the TRAP assay using blood samples from patients with various gynecologic tumors. To purify the epithelial components in blood samples, beads-based method was used, in which blood cells were incubated with beads that were conjugated with specific anti-epithelial antigen. Approximately, 20% of patients exhibited telomerase activity in this method, all of them had advanced gynecologic tumors, such as cervical and ovarian cancers, while none of 40 normal healthy volunteers showed no telomerase activity. Interestingly, telomerase activity observed in these patients decreased after initial treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, suggesting that it might reflect disease progression.We also examined the possibility of telomerase-based screening method for endometrial cancers using exfoliated endometrial scarping samples. We could achieved more than 80% of sensitivity to detect endometrial cancers using TRAP assay with endometrial scarping samples. Combination of this method with classical cytologic smear test may improve sensitivity and specificity to screen endometrial cancers.