Telomerase Activity in Saliva from Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

Objectives: To investigate the expression of telomerase in the saliva of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma as well as the clinical significance. Methods: The saliva samples were collected without stimulation from thirty-two patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and thirty healthy persons without oral lesions or total body diseases, the telomerase activity was assayed using the telomerase PCR-ELISA method. Results: The telomerase activity was detected positively in 75.0 percent(24/32) of the patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma, while that was detected positively only in 6.67 percent(2/30) of the control healthy persons, the difference was significant. There were no significant difference on the detection of telomerase activity between the patients in early period of the cancer and late period, the same to that between the patients with lymph nodes metastasis and without lymph nodes metastasis. Conclusion: The detection of telomerase activity in saliva can be used as an assistant marker to diagnose the oral squamous cell carcinoma, but it is seemed useless to judge the stage of the tumor and the lymph nodes metastasis.