User login
with telomeres in green
Image by Claus Azzalin
New research suggests telomere length is associated with cancer mortality—but not in the way researchers expected.
The study showed that short telomeres in peripheral blood leukocytes were associated with high mortality from all causes.
But genetically determined short telomeres were associated with low cancer mortality.
Line Rode, MD, PhD, of Herlev Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues reported these findings in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Some previous studies have suggested an association between short telomeres and high mortality, including cancer mortality, while others have not. A possible explanation for the conflicting evidence may be that the association was correlational, but other factors that were not adjusted for (such as age and lifestyle) were the real causes.
Genetic variation in genes associated with telomere length (TERC, TERT, and OBFC1) is independent of age and lifestyle factors. So researchers speculated that a genetic analysis called a Mendelian randomization could eliminate some of the confounding and allow them to confirm the association between telomere length and cancer mortality.
To perform this analysis, the team used data from 2 prospective cohort studies. The Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study included 64,637 individuals who were followed from 1991 to 2011.
Participants completed a questionnaire, underwent a physical examination, and had blood drawn for biochemistry, genotyping, and telomere length assays.
For each subject, the researchers had information on physical characteristics such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and cholesterol measurements, as well as smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and socioeconomic variables.
In addition to measuring telomere length for each subject, the researchers used 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms of TERC, TERT, and OBFC1 to construct a score for the presence of telomere-shortening alleles.
A total of 7607 individuals died during the study period, 2420 of cancer. Overall, decreasing telomere length was associated with age, variables such as BMI and smoking, and death from all causes, including cancer.
In contrast, a higher genetic score for telomere shortening was associated with decreased cancer mortality but not with any other causes of death.
The researchers said this suggests the slightly shorter telomeres in cancer patients with the higher genetic score for telomere shortening might be beneficial because uncontrolled cancer cell replication is reduced.
And long telomeres may confer a survival advantage for cancer cells, as they allow for multiple cell divisions that lead to high cancer mortality. 
with telomeres in green
Image by Claus Azzalin
New research suggests telomere length is associated with cancer mortality—but not in the way researchers expected.
The study showed that short telomeres in peripheral blood leukocytes were associated with high mortality from all causes.
But genetically determined short telomeres were associated with low cancer mortality.
Line Rode, MD, PhD, of Herlev Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues reported these findings in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Some previous studies have suggested an association between short telomeres and high mortality, including cancer mortality, while others have not. A possible explanation for the conflicting evidence may be that the association was correlational, but other factors that were not adjusted for (such as age and lifestyle) were the real causes.
Genetic variation in genes associated with telomere length (TERC, TERT, and OBFC1) is independent of age and lifestyle factors. So researchers speculated that a genetic analysis called a Mendelian randomization could eliminate some of the confounding and allow them to confirm the association between telomere length and cancer mortality.
To perform this analysis, the team used data from 2 prospective cohort studies. The Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study included 64,637 individuals who were followed from 1991 to 2011.
Participants completed a questionnaire, underwent a physical examination, and had blood drawn for biochemistry, genotyping, and telomere length assays.
For each subject, the researchers had information on physical characteristics such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and cholesterol measurements, as well as smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and socioeconomic variables.
In addition to measuring telomere length for each subject, the researchers used 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms of TERC, TERT, and OBFC1 to construct a score for the presence of telomere-shortening alleles.
A total of 7607 individuals died during the study period, 2420 of cancer. Overall, decreasing telomere length was associated with age, variables such as BMI and smoking, and death from all causes, including cancer.
In contrast, a higher genetic score for telomere shortening was associated with decreased cancer mortality but not with any other causes of death.
The researchers said this suggests the slightly shorter telomeres in cancer patients with the higher genetic score for telomere shortening might be beneficial because uncontrolled cancer cell replication is reduced.
And long telomeres may confer a survival advantage for cancer cells, as they allow for multiple cell divisions that lead to high cancer mortality.
with telomeres in green
Image by Claus Azzalin
New research suggests telomere length is associated with cancer mortality—but not in the way researchers expected.
The study showed that short telomeres in peripheral blood leukocytes were associated with high mortality from all causes.
But genetically determined short telomeres were associated with low cancer mortality.
Line Rode, MD, PhD, of Herlev Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues reported these findings in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Some previous studies have suggested an association between short telomeres and high mortality, including cancer mortality, while others have not. A possible explanation for the conflicting evidence may be that the association was correlational, but other factors that were not adjusted for (such as age and lifestyle) were the real causes.
Genetic variation in genes associated with telomere length (TERC, TERT, and OBFC1) is independent of age and lifestyle factors. So researchers speculated that a genetic analysis called a Mendelian randomization could eliminate some of the confounding and allow them to confirm the association between telomere length and cancer mortality.
To perform this analysis, the team used data from 2 prospective cohort studies. The Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study included 64,637 individuals who were followed from 1991 to 2011.
Participants completed a questionnaire, underwent a physical examination, and had blood drawn for biochemistry, genotyping, and telomere length assays.
For each subject, the researchers had information on physical characteristics such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and cholesterol measurements, as well as smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and socioeconomic variables.
In addition to measuring telomere length for each subject, the researchers used 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms of TERC, TERT, and OBFC1 to construct a score for the presence of telomere-shortening alleles.
A total of 7607 individuals died during the study period, 2420 of cancer. Overall, decreasing telomere length was associated with age, variables such as BMI and smoking, and death from all causes, including cancer.
In contrast, a higher genetic score for telomere shortening was associated with decreased cancer mortality but not with any other causes of death.
The researchers said this suggests the slightly shorter telomeres in cancer patients with the higher genetic score for telomere shortening might be beneficial because uncontrolled cancer cell replication is reduced.
And long telomeres may confer a survival advantage for cancer cells, as they allow for multiple cell divisions that lead to high cancer mortality.