Table 1.
Association studies of Telomere Length and Cancer.
| Tumor Site | Study Design | (#Cases/#Controls) | DNA Source | Method of TL Measurement |
Main findings | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bladder | Case-Control | 135/135 | PBLs¶ | Q-FISH | Short telomeres increase bladder cancer risk | (11)* |
| Case-Control | 63/93 | Buccal cells | Q-PCR+ (triplicates) | Short telomeres increase bladder cancer risk | (12)* | |
| Nested Case- Control |
61/67 (females), 123/125 (males) |
PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | Short telomeres increase bladder cancer risk | (22)* | |
| Breast | Population-based Case-Control |
1067/1110 | WBCs† (NOS)‡ | Q-PCR (duplicates) | Short telomeres increase breast cancer risk in premenopausal women. |
(29)* |
| Nested Case- Control |
1122/1147 | PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | TL is not associated with breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. |
(13)* | |
| Case-Control | 265/446 | Buffy coats and granulocyte preparations§ |
Q-PCR (triplicates) | Blood cell telomeres are longer in breast cancer patients than controls |
(30)* | |
| Case-Control | 287/350 | WBCs (NOS) | Q-PCR (triplicates) | Mean TL is shorter in cases than in controls. More pronounced in premenopausal women. |
(28)* | |
| Case-Control | 152/176 | PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | TL is not associated with risk of breast cancer | (37)* | |
| Case-Control | 153/159 | cultured lymphocytes |
Q-FISH | TL is not associated with risk of breast cancer. | (37)* | |
| Case-Control | 153/159 | cultured lymphocytes |
Q-FISH | Short telomeres on chromosome 9p increase breast cancer risk. |
(38) | |
| Case-Control | 102/50 | PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | Longer TL increased risk of breast cancer. | (14)* | |
| Case-Control | Prospective EPIC: 199/420 |
PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicate and triplicates) |
No association between risk of breast cancer and short TL. |
(25)* | |
| Case-Control | Retrospective SEARCH: 2243/2181 |
PBLS | Q-PCR (duplicates or triplicates) |
Short TL increased risk of breast cancer in retrospective study. |
(25)* | |
| Colorectal | Nested Case- Control |
191/306 | PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicates) | No association of leukocyte mean TL and risk of incident CRC¶¶ in men. |
(33)* |
| Nested Case- Control |
134/357 | PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicates) | No association of leukocyte mean TL and risk of incident CRC in women. |
(20)* | |
| Case-Control | Prospective EPIC:185/406 |
PBLs | Q-PCR | No association of increased risk of CRC and short telomeres. |
(25)* | |
| Case-Control | Retrospective SEARCH: 2249/2161 |
PBLs | Q-PCR | Short TL increased risk of CRC in retrospective study. | (25)* | |
| Endometrial | Nested Case- Control |
279/791 | PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | No association between relative TL and risk of endometrial cancer. |
(26)* |
| Esophagus | Cohort | 300 (38 cancers) | Buffy coats | Q-PCR (triplicates) | Short TL increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients with Barrett's esophagus. |
(27)* |
| Case-Control | 94/94 | PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates), STELA++ |
Short TL significantly increases risk of esophageal cancer. Short TL on 17p and 12q show increased risk. |
(32)* | |
| Gastric | Case-Control | 396/378 | PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicates) | Short TL increases risk of gastric cancer. | (21)* |
| Population-based Case-Control |
300/416 | PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicates) | Increased risk of gastric cancer among study participants with shortest TL. |
(17)* | |
|
Head and
Neck |
Case-Control | 92/92 | PBLs | Southern Blot | Short telomeres increase risk of head and neck cancer. | (11)* |
|
Incident
Cancer |
Population-based Case-Control |
92/787 | PBLs | Q-PCR (quadruplicate) |
Short TL increased risk of incident cancer (any cancer type). |
(31)* |
| Lung | Population-based Case-Control |
111/99 | First morning sputum |
Q-PCR (duplicates) | Short TL is not associated with risk of lung cancer. | (16) |
| Case-Control | 243/243 | PBLs | Q-PCR (duplicates) | Short telomeres increase risk of lung cancer. | (18* | |
| Case-Control | 54/54 | PBLs | Q-FISH | Short telomeres increase risk of lung cancer. | (11)* | |
|
Non-
Hodgkin Lymphoma |
Case-Control | 40/40 | PBLs | Flow-FISH | Telomeres in WBC subsets are significantly shorter in patients with NHL††. |
(40)* |
| Case-Control | 107/107 | WBCs | Q-PCR | Risk of NHL is increased with longer TL. | (19)* | |
| Ovarian | Population-based Case-Control |
99/100 | Buffy coats | Q-PCR (triplicates) | TL is significantly shorter in patients with serous ovarian cancer. |
(24)* |
| Prostate | Nested Case- Control |
612/1049 | Buffy coats | Q-PCR (triplicates) | TL is not associated with risk of prostate cancer. | (23)* |
| Renal | Case-Control | 32/32 | PBLs | Q-FISH | Short telomeres increase risk of renal cancer. | (11)* |
| Case-Control | 65/65 | PBLs | Q-FISH | Short telomeres increase risk of renal cancer. | (36)* | |
| Skin | Nested Case- Control |
218 melanoma cases, 285 SCC‡‡, 300 BCC§§/870 |
PBLs | Q-PCR (triplicates) | TL is not associated with skin cancer risk. | (15)* |
*
indicates the studies included in the meta-analysis.
¶
peripheral blood lymphocytes;
†
WBCs, white blood cells; ‡not otherwise specified;
§
DNA was derived from granulocytes for 146 controls. DNA from the rest of the controls and all of the cases was from buffy coats.
¶¶
colorectal cancer;
++
single telomere length analysis;
††
non-Hodgkin lymphoma;
‡‡
squamous cell carcinoma;
§§
basal cell carcinoma; Nested case-control studies were conducted within prospective cohort studies. One study combined analyses of two independent case-control series of breast and colorectal cancer in their report (retrospective SEARCH and prospective EPIC case-control study) (25). One study combined two independent case-control studies of breast cancer in their report (37).