Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the significance of  determination of telomerase activity in induced sputum and fiberobronchoscopic biopsy samples in lung cancer patients. Methods  The technique of TRAP(telomeric repeat amplification protocal)-PCR-ELISA was employed to detect telomerase levels in induced sputum and fiberobronchoscopic biopsy samples in 80 lung cancer patients and  50  benign lung disease patients. Results  Telomerase levels in induced sputum and fiberobronchoscopic biopsy  samples were higher in patients with lung cancer than in those with benign lung disease(P<0.001).There was no significant difference in telomerase activity between the different pathologic types(P>0.05).The sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of telomerase activity was  62.5% (50/80), 72.0 % (36/50) and 66.2%(86/130) in induced sputum， and 60.0%(48/80), 70.0%(35/50), and 63.8%(83/130) in  fiberobronchoscopic biopsy sample respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of telomerase activity determined by the above methods simultaneously as 82.5%(66/80), 64.0%（32/50）and 75.4%(98/130) respectively. Conclusion  Determination of telomerase activity in induced sputum and fiberobronchoscopic biopsy samples has higher sensitivity and can improve the diagnostic accuracy for lung cancer.

Key words: Telomerase； Sputum； Bronchoscopes； Lung neoplasms； Diagnosis