Cell proliferation rate and telomerase activity in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant mesothelial proliferations

Abstract

Aims: The differential diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma ( MM) from benign mesothelial lesions ( BML) based on histopathological criteria is sometimes not satisfying and causes diagnostic problems for histopathologists. We aimed to investigate whether the immunohistochemically determined cell proliferation rate and telomerase activity, using Ki-67 and human telomerase reverse transcriptase ( hTERT) immunohistochemistry, respectively, are useful in the differential diagnosis of MM from BML.