Telomerase Activity in Chicken Embryo Fibroblast Cell Cultures Infected with Marekʹʹs Disease Virus

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 Marekʹs 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.