Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Alvero, A. B.
Right arrow Articles by Sapi, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Alvero, A. B.
Right arrow Articles by Fishman, D. A.
Right arrow Articles by Qumsiyeh, M. B.
Right arrow Articles by Garg, M.
Right arrow Articles by Kacinski, B. M.
Right arrow Articles by Sapi, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Telomerase Prolongs the Lifespan of Normal Human Ovarian Surface Epithelial Cells Without Inducing Neoplastic Phenotype

Ayesha B. Alvero, MD

Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern Uiversity Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Biology and Evvironmental Sciences, University of New Haven, West Haven, Connecticut; ayesha.alvero{at}yale.edu

David A. Fishman, MD, PhD

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, PhD

Manish Garg, MS

Barry M. Kacinski, MD, PhD

Eva Sapi, PhD

Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern Uiversity Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Biology and Evvironmental Sciences, University of New Haven, West Haven, Connecticut

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of exogenous expression of the catalytic subunit of telomerase (hTERT) on the lifespan, growth characteristics, and tumorigenicity of normal human ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells.

Methods: Low-passage primary clutures of normal human OSE cells were transfected with hTERT and the resulting cell lines were characterized.

Results: The ectopic expression of hTERT stabilized the telomeres of the OSE cultures above 8 kb. The hERT-transfected OSE cell lines grew beyond the normal lifespan seen in OSE cells and propagated in culture for more than 40 passages before senescing. Moreover, the hTERT-transfected cells demonstrated extensive proliferative capacity as evidenced by their ability to continuously grow even when seeded at low dilutions. The morphologic features and normal differentiation patterns seen in normal OSE cells were likewise retained by the hTERT-transfected cells. In addition, the cultures remained responsive to physiologic concentrations of epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta. Changes associated with neoplastic transformation like anchorage-independent growth, tumorigencity and karyotypic instability were not observed.

Conclusions: We were able to show that the ectopic expression of hTERT in normal human OSE: 1) resulted in cultures with greater growth potential and longer lifespan and 2) did not induce a transformed phenotype previously seen in viral oncogene-transfected OSE cells. The established cell lines would not only provide sufficient material for comprehensive studies to investigate the normal physiology of OSE cells, but could also help in the understanding of the early steps of ovarian carcinogenesis.

Key Words: Ovarian surface epithelium • immortalization • telomerase • proliferation • senescence

Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, Vol. 11, No. 8, 553-561 (2004)
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsgi.2004.06.006
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cancer Res.Home page
M. G. Kelly, A. B. Alvero, R. Chen, D.-A. Silasi, V. M. Abrahams, S. Chan, I. Visintin, T. Rutherford, and G. Mor
TLR-4 Signaling Promotes Tumor Growth and Paclitaxel Chemoresistance in Ovarian Cancer.
Cancer Res., April 1, 2006; 66(7): 3859 - 3868.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Reproductive SciencesHome page
M. A. Spillman and A. Berchuck
Stretching the Surface Epithelium
Reproductive Sciences, December 1, 2004; 11(8): 501 - 502.
[PDF]