Abstract
Abstract Telomeres are essential for maintenance of genomic stability. Short telomeres have been associated with genomic instability, and initiation and progression of human cancers. To protect their telomeres, up to 90% of human cancers activate telomerase. Inhibition of telomerase by imetelstat, a specific and potent inhibitor, has resulted in telomere shortening, as well as tumor response in animal models. We propose that tumors with short telomeres may be more responsive to imetelstat than tumors with long telomeres. This hypothesis will be tested by measuring baseline telomere lengths in archival tumors of patients in imetelstat Phase II clinical trials, and correlating tumor telomere length with clinical outcome. In order to accomplish this, a fast, high-throughput qPCR-based method for telomere length measurement in genomic DNA extracted from FFPE tissue sections was developed. Using this assay, telomere repetitive DNA sequences and single-copy gene control were successfully amplified. The assay required very little genomic DNA (1-10ng per PCR reaction). Thus, small tissue sections (20 mm2) could be easily accommodated. Using this technique, we were able to perform the first comparison of relative telomere lengths in 22 human breast cancer samples and 8 human tumor cell lines in matched fresh-frozen and FFPE samples. Telomere lengths measured in FFPE samples by the qPCR method strongly correlated with the telomere lengths measured by TRF in matched fresh-frozen samples. Therefore, our method provides a useful tool for assessment of telomere length as a potential predictive biomarker of responsiveness to telomerase inhibition in clinical archival tumor tissue. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3601. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3601
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