%0 Journal Article %T Telomerase Activity in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast Cell Cultures Infected with Marek's Disease Virus %J Middle East Journal of Cancer %I Shiraz University of Medical Sciences %Z 2008-6709 %A Motamedifar, Mohammad %A Tannock, Gregory A. %D 2010 %\ 07/01/2010 %V 1 %N 3 %P 129-133 %! Telomerase Activity in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast Cell Cultures Infected with Marek's Disease Virus %R %X Background: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein, which adds telomeric repeats onto the 3’ 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 14 (P14), P80/1 and P120 for the Woodland strain, and passage 9 (P9) for the MPF57 strain.Results: The results showed increased telomerase activity in MDV Woodlands strain at P14 and MPF57 strain at P9.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. %U https://mejc.sums.ac.ir/article_41910_5f84fd4f3ae35b8ffd2f094afb829061.pdf