Telomerase and hTERT: Can they serve as markers for gastric cancer diagnosis?

Figure 1 Periodic acid-Schiff, cytokeratin-18 and toluidine blue staining and cell morphology. A: Cytoplasm of normal human gastric mucosal epithelial cells (nhGMECs) was stained purple with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), and contained neutral mucin granules, magnification × 1000; B: nhGMEC network-structure staining with an antibody against cytokeratin (CK)-18 demonstrates the presence of CK-18; C: Phase-contrast micrograph of nhGMECs after 4 d of culture, magnification × 100; D: Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of microvilli (mv) and secretary granules (sg) in nhGMECs, magnification × 1000; E: nhGMECs were detected by toluidine blue staining, and nuclei (light color) were observed, magnification × 400; F: SGC-7901 cells were detected by toluidine blue staining, and nuclei with multiple nucleoli (deep color) were observed, magnification × 400; G: Phase-contrast micrograph of nhGMFs after 13 d of culture, magnification × 100.

Figure 2 Telomerase activity in normal human gastric mucosal epithelial cells, normal human gastric mucosal fibroblasts and tumor cell lines. Lane 1: Normal human gastric mucosal fibroblasts; lane 2: Normal human gastric mucosal epithelial cells; lane 3: BGC-823 cells; lane 4: SGC-7901 cells; lane 5: MKN-28 cells; lane 6: Marker.

Figure 3 Expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase in cultured cells, stained with diamidino-phenyl-indole, human telomerase reverse transcriptase antibody, and rhodamine labeled human telomerase reverse transcriptase second antibody. A: Normal human gastric mucosal epithelial cells; B: Normal human gastric mucosal fibroblasts; C: BGC-823 cells; D: SGC-7901 cells; E: MKN-28 cells; F: Negative control.