Aida S, et al. - In the present study, researchers evaluated the telomere lengths of neoplastic and non-neoplastic mesothelial cells as well as analyzed their association with asbestos exposure and the expression of markers of mesothelial malignancy. For this investigation, cell blocks of pleural effusion obtained from 35 cases of non-neoplastic disease (NN), 12 cases of malignant mesothelioma (MM) and 12 cases of carcinomatous effusion due to lung adenocarcinoma (LA) were studied. In the development of MM, telomere shortening and subsequent genetic instability played an important role. For earlier identification of MM, measurement of telomere length of cells in pleural effusion might be useful.