Telomerase activity and telomere length in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia: indicative of proliferative activity, disease progression, and overall survival.

Background: The progressive shortening of telomeres and the activation of telomerase have been considered to be one of the key mechanisms in cellular immortalization and tumor progression.

Patients And Methods: About 300 sequential samples were collected from 40 patients during the course of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) disease. Telomerase activity (TA) and terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length were assessed by TRAP and Southern blot analyses, respectively.