The use of tree shrews as experimental animals for biomedical research is a new practice. Several recent studies suggest that tree shrews are suitable for studying cancers, including breast cancer, glioblastoma, lung cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the telomeres and the telomerase of tree shrews have not been studied to date. Here, we characterize telomeres and telomerase in tree shrews. The telomere length of tree shrews is approximately 23 kb, which is longer than that of primates and shorter than that of mice, and it is extended in breast tumor tissues according to Southern blot and flow-fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses. Tree shrew spleen, bone marrow, testis, ovary, and uterus show high telomerase activities, which are increased in breast tumor tissues by telomeric repeat amplification protocol assays. The telomere length becomes shorter, and telomerase activity decreases with age. The tree shrew TERT and TERC are more highly similar to primates than to rodents. These findings lay a solid foundation for using tree shrews to study aging and cancers.

利用树鼩作为生物医学研究的实验动物是一种新的做法。最近的几项研究表明，树鼩适合研究癌症，包括乳腺癌、胶质母细胞瘤、肺癌和肝细胞癌。然而，迄今为止尚未对树鼩的端粒和端粒酶进行研究。在这里，我们表征了树鼩的端粒和端粒酶。树鼩的端粒长度约为23 kb，比灵长类动物长，比小鼠短，根据Southern印迹和流式荧光原位杂交（FISH）分析，其在乳腺肿瘤组织中延长。树鼩的脾脏、骨髓、睾丸、卵巢和子宫表现出高端粒酶活性，通过端粒重复扩增方案测定，端粒酶活性在乳腺肿瘤组织中增加。随着年龄的增长，端粒长度变短，端粒酶活性降低。与啮齿类动物相比，树鼩的TERT和TERC与灵长类动物更加相似。这些发现为利用树鼩研究衰老和癌症奠定了坚实的基础。