Abstract
e15717 Background: Cancer cells achieve limitless self-renewal capacity mainly through telomerase reactivation. Methylation of a specific region in the h TERT promoter, termed TERT Hypermethylated Oncologic Region (THOR), has been associated with telomerase reactivation, increased telomerase activity and patient outcome in several cancers. Methods: In this study, we assessed the methylation status of THOR using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data on cohorts of two endocrine cancers with distinct cell proliferation rates: the highly proliferative pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 194 patients) and the more indolent thyroid carcinoma (n = 571 patients). Results: THOR was significantly hypermethylated in malignant cancer when compared to benign adjacent tissue in pancreatic cancer (p < 0.0001), but not in thyroid cancer. In pancreatic cancer, THOR hypermethylation could also distinguish normal tissue from early stage I disease and it associated with worst patient prognosis. Conclusions: These preliminary findings indicate that THOR can discriminate aggressive tumors from non-aggressive ones, and evidenced the diagnostic and prognostic value of THOR in pancreatic cancer.
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