실험적으로 유발된 중이진주종에서 Telomerase의 발현

Background and Objectoves: Telomerase is a marker of cell proliferation in malignant tissues and also can be expressed in benign disease such as cholesteatoma. There are two opposite opinions about the expression of telomerase in cholesteatoma. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether telomerase is expressed in expreimentally induced cholesteatoma. Materials and Methods: Cholesteatoma was induced by ligation of EAC of ten Mongolian gerbils. The telomerase activity was detected by the telomerase repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay method in both cholesteatoma and normal control retroauricular skin. Results : 10 of 10 (100%) cholesteatoma cases expressed telomerase activity, whereas 3 of 10 (30%) retroauricular normal skin detected telomerase activity. Conclusions: The high expression of telomerase in experimentally induced cholesteatoma suggests activation of telomerase may be related to the proliferative nature of cholesteatoma as in human tissues. (J Clinical Otolaryngol 2004;15:250–255)