Telomerase PCR-ELISA Assay in Diagnosis of Bladder Tumor

Lee, Sun Ju; Lee, Woo In; Chang, Sung Goo

Abstract

PURPOSE: The detection of telomerase activity is a new and useful method in diagnosis of bladder transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) in urine samples. But the detection method of telomerase activity is not easily performed in clinical settings because it uses radio-isotope and electrophoresis. We evaluated the test results of telomerase PCR-ELISA and compared them with the results of urinary cytology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to evaluate the feasibility of telomerase PCR-ELISA method in bladder TCC, 36 bladder washing samples of patients with bladder TCC and 10 bladder washing samples of benign urologic diseases were examined for telomerase activity. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity and specificity of the telomerase test was 76.5%(26/36) and 80.0%(4/5). The sensitivity of telomerase test was higher than that of urinary cytology in low grade bladder TCC. Sensitivity of the telomerase test according to the nuclear grade of bladder TCC was 61.5% in grade I, 92.3% in grade II, 75% in grade III. In contrast, the sensitivity was 38.5% in grade I, 66.7% in grade II, 87.5% in grade III in urinary cytology. There was no correlation between the tumor stages and the sensitivity of telomerase test. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that the sensitivity and specificity of telomerase PCR-ELISA method is similar to the results of telomerase tests previously reported using radioisotope. Furthermore, the telomerase test is more sensitive in detecting bladder tumor of low grade than urinary cytology. These findings suggest that telomerase PCR-ELISA method can be used conveniently and widely for the detection of bladder tumor in clinical practice.