Telomere lengths in the oral epithelia with and without carcinoma

Received 2 September 2009; received in revised form 9 October 2009; accepted 15 October 2009. published online 12 November 2009.

Abstract

Aging appears to be intrinsically related to carcinogenesis. Genomic instability due to telomere shortening plays an important role in carcinoma development. In order to clarify telomere dysfunction in carcinoma development, we examined the uninvolved epithelium adjacent to carcinoma in situ (CIS), i.e. background of CIS, and CIS itself, compared to control without carcinoma, using an improved quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH) method. We also estimated anaphase bridge (AB), which is inferred to be related to chromosomal instability. In all cell types (basal, parabasal, and suprabasal), mean telomere lengths were significantly shorter in the background than in the control. We also demonstrated increased incidences of AB, not only in CIS, but also in the background and control epithelia with excessively shortened telomeres. Thus we have conclusively demonstrated that CIS arises from epithelium with short telomeres.

Keywords: Telomere, Chromosomal instability, Q-FISH, Tongue, Carcinoma in situ, Anaphase bridge

a Research Team for Geriatric Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan

b Department of Pathology, Saitama Cancer Center, Saitama Prefecture 362-0806, Japan

c Department of Cancer Genomics, The Cancer Institute, The Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan

d Terry Fox Laboratory, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 1L3

e Department of Pathology, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo 150-8935, Japan

f Department of Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan

Corresponding author: Tel.: +81 3 3964 3241; fax: +81 3 3579 4776.

PII: S0959-8049(09)00776-X

doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2009.10.018

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