Yang B, Shi L, Lei J, Li B, Jin Y. Advances in optical assays for detecting telomerase activity.
LUMINESCENCE 2019;
34:136-152. [PMID:
30706686 DOI:
10.1002/bio.3595]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Revised: 12/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Telomerase uses its RNA as template and its protein unit as reverse transcriptase to synthesize TTAGGG repeats at the ends of the eukaryotic chromosome to maintain the lengths of telomeres. Telomerase activity up-regulates in about 85% of human tumors compared with somatic cells, which indicates that telomerase is a tumor biomarker. Reliable assay of telomerase activity is thus essential in diagnosis and management of malignant tumors. In this review, recent developed optical assays are summarized based on the readout signal, including chemiluminescence assay, colorimetric assay, and fluorescence assay.
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