Telomere Length Measurement for Human Tumor Cells

Telomeres have important functions in chromosome stability and replication. Progressive telomere shortening may lead to genetic instability and tumor transformation. Most tumor cells activate telomerase and lengthen their telomeres, but tumor cells usually still maintain shortened telomeres. Given the role of telomere length in biological homeostasis, there is a growing interest in accurately and efficiently measuring telomere length.

Telomere shortening is associated with a range of different tumor diseases, and therefore reliable measurements are needed to reveal this association. CD BioSciences provides cost-effective and efficient telomere length measurement services for tumor cells.

Telomere Length Variation in Tumor Cells

Tumor cells survive cellular crises through telomere maintenance mechanisms. Tumor cells typically express high levels of telomerase so that they can maintain and extend their telomere length to proliferate and survive. Some studies have investigated the dynamics of telomere length during tumorigenesis. Most studies have found that telomeres shorten during tumor transformation, but some studies have demonstrated that telomere length remains unchanged. The dynamic changes in telomere length during tumorigenesis may serve as a biomarker of aging as well as tumor risk, onset, progression, and prognosis.

Fig. 1 Telomere maintenance in tumor cells.

Our Services of Tumor Cell Telomere Length Measurements

We recognize that telomere length is a key variable in the biological function of senescence and carcinogenesis. Therefore, we provide measurement techniques that provide accurate information about telomere length in different tumor cells.

• Human tumor cell line culture
  We can establish human cell lines cultured in vitro, including various solid tumor cell lines as described below. All cell lines are under suitable conditions and preserved in the appropriate medium.

  Cervical tumor cells	Lung tumor cells	Prostate tumor cells
  Breast tumor cells	Colorectal tumor cells	Brain tumor cells
  Renal tumor cells	Pancreatic tumor cells	Fibrosarcoma cells
  Liver tumor cells	Ovarian tumor cells	Other types

• Telomere length measurement
  We offer a range of methods for telomere length detection in types of tumor cells, such as terminal restriction fragment (TRF), quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques. The relative telomere length, average telomere length, shortest telomere length, single cell telomere length, and telomere distribution are measured in triplicate for each sample.
  If requested, we also provide isolation of genomic DNA from cultured cell lines, quantify DNA concentration and purity, and analyze its quality. The same control DNA will be included in each assay run and the intra- and inter-batch coefficients of variation will be carefully monitored.

• Statistical analysis
  We perform the analysis process generally using ANOVA, analysis of the significance of differences between groups, and correlation tests. Specific analyses may include comparative analyses of mean telomere length in tumor cells and normal cells and other analysis metrics as needed.

Advantages of Our Technologies

• Precise and efficient. Our improved and innovative telomere length measurement technologies can achieve more efficient, stable, and accurate measurement results.
• Consistency. We support the simultaneous detection of telomeric fragments and internal reference genes in the same tube, resulting in more comparable results and saving samples.
• More cost-effective. We can reduce your testing costs and provide a personalized database for data comparison to achieve a more cost-effective service.

CD BioSciences specializes in telomere length analysis and is available in laboratories worldwide. If you are interested in our services, please contact us to learn more.

References

1. Hirashima K, et al. Telomere length influences tumor cell differentiation in vivo. Molecular and cellular biology, 2013, 33 (15): 2988-2995.
2. Barthel F, et al. Systematic analysis of telomere length and somatic alterations in 31 tumor types. Nature Genetics, 2017, 49: 349-357.