Comparison of TERRA expression in human brain tumors

Abstract

Telomerase activation has been found in a variety of human cancers, including brain tumors to prevent the telomere from progressive shortening, but telomeres are transcribed into a non-coding RNA called telomeric repeat-containing RNA or TERRA which acts as a natural inhibitor of telomerase activity. Considering meningioma and astrocytoma are the most common tumors of the CNS, the aim of this study was to evaluate TERRA expression level in meningioma, astrocytoma tumors and nontumor (NT) controls. Furthermore, expression levels of TERRA were compared between different grades of meningioma and astrocytoma. Additionally, we analyzed the correlation of TERRA expression and improvement outcome. The total RNA of 51 brain tumor samples and 4 samples as nontumor (NT) controls was extracted and SYBR Green real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction assays for quantitation of total TERRA levels were developed. Tumor samples from 25 patients with meningiomas and 26 patients with astrocytoma were assessed. We demonstrated the correlation between total TERRA levels of expression with different grades of brain tumors and improvement outcome. According to our study, TERRA may be a prognostic marker in meningioma and astrocytoma tumors.