Telomerase Activity in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast Cell Cultures Infected with Marek's Disease Virus

Background: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein, which adds telomeric repeats onto the ۳’ end of existing telomers at the end of chromosomes in eukaryotes. One hypothesis states that telomere length may function as a mitotic clock, therefore expression of telomerase activity in cancer cells may be a necessary and essential step for tumor development and progression.Methods: The detectability of telomerase activity in chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells infected with different passages of Marek's disease virus (MDV) was tested with the TRAPEZE® telomerase detection kit at passages ۱۴ (P۱۴), P۸۰/۱ and P۱۲۰ for the Woodland strain, and passage ۹ (P۹) for the MPF۵۷ strain.Results: The results showed increased telomerase activity in MDV Woodlands strain at P۱۴ and MPF۵۷ strain at P۹.Conclusion: Our results suggest that MDV-transformed cells at low passage are a suitable system for the study of telomerases in tumor development and for testing telomerase-inhibiting drugs.