Telomerase plays a significantly important role in keeping the telomere length of a chromosome. Telomerase overexpresses in nearly all tumor cells, suggesting that telomerase could be not only a promising biomarker but also a potential therapeutic target for cancers. Therefore, numerous efforts focusing on the detection of telomerase activity have been reported from polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assays to PCR-free assays such as isothermal amplification in recent decade. In this review, we highlight the strategies for the detection of telomerase activity using isothermal amplification and discuss some of the challenges in designing future telomerase assays as well.

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等温扩增检测端粒酶活性的研究进展

端粒酶在保持染色体的端粒长度中起着重要的作用。端粒酶几乎在所有肿瘤细胞中都过表达，这表明端粒酶不仅可能是有前途的生物标志物，而且可能是癌症的潜在治疗靶标。因此，近十年来，从基于聚合酶链反应（PCR）的端粒重复扩增协议（TRAP）分析到无PCR分析（例如等温扩增），已经报道了许多致力于端粒酶活性检测的工作。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了使用等温扩增检测端粒酶活性的策略，并讨论了在设计未来端粒酶检测方法中的一些挑战。