Background and aim: The surgical management of IPMT is based upon a preoperative suspicion of malignancy, that is difficult to obtain from the available diagnostic tools.
Methods: Telomerase gene expression was investigated by means of hTERT/RT-PCR on total RNA from peripheral blood, tumour and non-tumour pancreatic samples of 2 patients with IPMT.
Results: Histological diagnosis was mild-grade dysplasia in the first case and invasive carcinoma in the second. Telomerase expression was undetectable in all the samples derived from the first case. Blood and tumour samples from the second patient were positive for telomerase mRNA expression, while the pancreatic non-tumour specimen was not.
Conclusions: The following suggestions are made: 1) the telomerase gene expression seems to be implicated in the malignant evolution of IMPT; 2) the malignant transformation may be limited to a single area of the gland; 3) the presence of invasive carcinoma may be preoperatively suspected by peripheral venous blood sample collection. A possible clinical employment of telomerase gene expression determination in the management of IPMT is thus hypothesized.