Abstract: Objective To study the expression of telomerase and its possible clinical significance in patients with condyloma acuminatum,bowenoid papulosis,Bowen's disease and vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.Methods The human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) was detected by immunohistochemistry technique in all patients.Histopathological analysis was done in patients with bowenoid papulosis or Bowen's disease.Results There was a significant difference in the expression of hTERT among normal tissue,condyloma acuminatum and squamous carcinoma,and the expression rate increased successively from normal control to squamous carcinoma.In bowenoid papulosis,the expression of bTERT was significantly higher as compared to that in condyloma acuminatum,significantly lower as compared to that in squamous carcinoma,and was as the same as that in Bowen's disease.Histopathologically,the degree of cell atypia was significantly higher in Bowen's disease than that in bowenoid papulosis.Conclusions The expression of telomerase increases successively from normal skin,benign tumors to malignant carcinomas,which suggests that the expression of telomerase may play an important role in both cell proliferation and immortalization.

Key words: Condyloma acuminata, Bowenoid papulosis, Bowen disease, Carcinoma,squamous cell, Telomerase