Table I.
Telomere length and cancer risk.
| Cancer type | Sample type | Origin of study population | TL (mean ± SD) | TL and cancer risk | Clinical significance | Authors/(Refs.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lung adenocarcinoma | European | Longer telomere length/higher risk | Risk prediction/intervention target for disease progression | Haycock et al (56) | ||
| East Asian | Longer telomere length/higher risk | Longer telomere length may play a role in carcinogenesis | Cao et al (52) | |||
| Peripheral blood leukocytes | Caucasian | 1.23±0.38 | Longer telomere length/higher risk | According to the histology of the tumor, cancer risk differs | Sanchez-Espiridion et al (47) | |
| Peripheral blood leukocytes | Asian (Chinese) | Longer telomere length/higher risk | Dose-dependent association for telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes at baseline with an increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma | Yuan et al (54) | ||
| Interstitial lung disease | European | longer telomere length/lower risk | risk prediction/ intervention target for disease progression | Haycock et al (56) | ||
| Non-small cell lung cancer | Blood lymphocytes | In the younger age group, short telomere length and high TLV in blood lymphocytes jointly increased the risk of lung cancer by 8-fold compared with individuals who had long telomere length and low TLV | Age may be critical in establishing cancer risk | Sun et al (45) | ||
| Squamous cell carcinoma | East Asian | Marginal nonlinear association | Cao et al (52) | |||
| Peripheral blood leukocytes | Caucasian | 1.10±0.44 | Shorter telomere length/lower risk | Sanchez-Espiridion et al (47) | ||
| Lung cancer (all types) | Peripheral blood lymphocytes | Asian (Korean) | 1.59±0.75 | Shorter telomere length/higher risk (more pronounced in patients with small cell carcinoma than in those with squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma) | Short telomere-associated with risk of cancer development | Jang et al (46) |
| Peripheral white blood cell | Asian | Longer telomere length/higher risk | Machiela et al (53) | |||
| Peripheral blood leukocytes | Asian (Chinese) | 0.76±0.35 | Short telomere/ higher risk | 3.90- and 4.54-fold increased risk | Xue et al (43) |
TL, telomere length; TLV, telomere length variation.