Clinical usefulness of telomerase activation and telomere length in head and neck cancer

• Published in: Head & neck Vol. 24; no. 12; pp. 1060 - 1067
• Main Authors: Patel, Mintoo M., Parekh, Lalit J., Jha, Franky P., Sainger, Rachana N., Patel, Jayendra B., Patel, Devendra D., Shah, Pankaj M., Patel, Prabhudas S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.12.2002
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Blotting, Southern; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - enzymology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Disease-Free Survival; Female; head and neck cancer; Head and Neck Neoplasms - enzymology; Head and Neck Neoplasms - pathology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; oral leukoplakia; oral submucous fibrosis; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Precancerous Conditions - enzymology; Precancerous Conditions - pathology; prognosis; Survival Analysis; telomerase; Telomerase - analysis; Telomerase - metabolism; Telomere - metabolism; telomere length; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Background. Telomere shortening at every replication cycle is postulated to limit the life span of human somatic cells. In contrast, activation of telomerase is proposed to be an essential step for cancer cell immortalization. Head and neck cancer is the most common malignancy in the Indian populati...