Unit:
Τομέας ΠαθολογίαςLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Dissertation committee:
Κωνσταντίνος Κωνσταντόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Μελέτης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Δερβενούλας, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Βασιλική Παππά, Αναπλ. Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Παναγιώτης Τσιριγώτης, Αναπλ. Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Φλώρα Κοντοπίδου, Αναπλ. Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Θεόδωρος Βασιλακόπουλος, Αναπλ. Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Προσδιορισμός μέσου μήκους τελομεριδίων και δραστηριότητα της τελομεράσης στα κύτταρα περιφερικού αίματος ασθενών με β-χρόνια λεμφική λευχαιμία
Translated title:
Determination of telomere length and telomerase activity in peripheral blood cells from patients with B-cells chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Summary:
The gradual growth of leukemic cells in B- CLL is not a result of increased proliferation
rate , but it is mainly a result of extended survival due to inhibition of the normal process
of apoptosis or in other words Programmed Cell Death ( PCD ) .
The inhibition of apoptosis is not an independent property of the leukemic cell, but is
mostly associated with the support by the adjacent cells and the cytokines produced by
them. The apoptotic process has been studied by several research groups:
A. The family of Bcl-2 molecules consisting of proteins whose primary function is the regulation
of apoptosis and with strong anti- apoptotic activity .
In our work we found a statistically significant increase of bcl2 value and decrease late
apoptosis in patients with B-CLL compared to healthy controls, ( p = 0.0002 and p=0.0003
respectively), while for early apoptosis no significant difference was found (p = 0.1298).
B. Recently the telomere and telomerase , which is overexpressed in the leukemic cells, are
found to be involved in lifespan regulation, proliferation and programmed cell death. Telomerase
restores the telomeres length which is lost at each cell division, so the cells acquire
unlimited capacity to cell divisions, as in tumors, which is the case of B- CLL.
In our work the average telomere length was Significantly lower in patients with B-CLL
compared to normal controls (P = 0.0014) .
The activity of telomerase was significantly higher in patients with B-CLL versus normal
controls (P = 0.0041) .
In patients with B-CLL, the function of telomerase is elevated, in order to maintain the
length of telomeres - which would be lost in each cell division – so that the cell can survive
and escape apoptotic signals. No relation was found between the mean telomere length and
telomerase activity and Rai or Binet stage of the disease. Moreover no relation was found
between telomerase activity and apoptotic rate suggesting that other mechanisms in vivo
probably derived from the microenvironment are responsible for the antiapoptotic process
in this disease.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Telomere, Telomerase, Apoptosis, B-cells chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Number of references:
387
