Telomerase Activity in Acute and Chronic Leukemia Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: Leukemia is a malignant disorder resulting from clonal proliferation of lymphoid or myeloid precursors with arrested maturation. It has been shown recently that telomers and telomerase activity are involved in the control of cell proliferation, regulation of cell senescence in the most somatic cells, and unlimited proliferation capacity of the malignant cells including leukemic cells. Previous studies determined the frequent expression of telomerase activity in most human solid tumors and hematological malignancies, however so far few studies have addressed telomerase activity in both Bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) in adult acute and chronic leukemia patients at diagnosis and after chemotherapy.