CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TELOMERASE ACTIVITY AND PERIPHERAL VENOUS BLOOD CK－20 EXPRESSION IN BLADDER TRANSITIONAL CELL CARCINOMA

Objective: The relationship between peripheral blood CK-20 Mrna expression and tissue telomerase activity in bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCCB) was investigated to evaluate the feasibility of their combined detection in early-stage diagnosis and prognosis estimation of TCCB. Methods: the blood CK-20 was detected by semi-nested RT-PCR and telomerase activity in tumor tissue was examined with silver-stained TRAP reaction. Results: the blood CK-20 expression and tissue telomerase activity in TCCB were 41% and 93% respectively. No statistical significance was detected among pathological grading and clinical staging (P>0.05). Positive correlation was shown between CK-20 expression and telomerase activity with the pathologic grade or clinical stage. Conclusion: combined use of blood CK-20 and tissue telomerase activity detections might be of great importance for clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis evaluation.