Shortened telomere length is associated with increased risk of cancer: a meta-analysis.
Abstract
Telomeres play a key role in the maintenance of chromosome integrity and stability,
and telomere shortening is involved in initiation and progression of malignancies.
A series of epidemiological studies have examined the association between shortened
telomeres and risk of cancers, but the findings remain conflicting.A dataset composed
of 11,255 cases and 13,101 controls from 21 publications was included in a meta-analysis
to evaluate the association between overall cancer risk or cancer-specific risk and
the relative telomere length. Heterogeneity among studies and their publication bias
were further assessed by the χ(2)-based Q statistic test and Egger's test, respectively.The
results showed that shorter telomeres were significantly associated with cancer risk
(OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.14-1.60), compared with longer telomeres. In the stratified
analysis by tumor type, the association remained significant in subgroups of bladder
cancer (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.38-2.44), lung cancer (OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.18-4.88),
smoking-related cancers (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.83-2.78), cancers in the digestive
system (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.53-1.87) and the urogenital system (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.12-2.67).
Furthermore, the results also indicated that the association between the relative
telomere length and overall cancer risk was statistically significant in studies of
Caucasian subjects, Asian subjects, retrospective designs, hospital-based controls
and smaller sample sizes. Funnel plot and Egger's test suggested that there was no
publication bias in the current meta-analysis (P = 0.532).The results of this meta-analysis
suggest that the presence of shortened telomeres may be a marker for susceptibility
to human cancer, but single larger, well-design prospective studies are warranted
to confirm these findings.
Type
Journal articleSubject
TelomereHumans
Neoplasms
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Confidence Intervals
Odds Ratio
Risk Factors
Publication Bias
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18013Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0020466Publication Info
Ma, Hongxia; Zhou, Ziyuan; Wei, Sheng; Liu, Zhensheng; Pooley, Karen A; Dunning, Alison
M; ... Wei, Qingyi (2011). Shortened telomere length is associated with increased risk of cancer: a meta-analysis.
PloS one, 6(6). pp. e20466. 10.1371/journal.pone.0020466. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18013.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Zhensheng Liu
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Qingyi Wei
Professor in Population Health Sciences
Qingyi Wei, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Medicine, is Associate Director
for Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Co-leader of CCPS and Co-leader of Epidemiology
and Population Genomics (Focus Area 1). He is a professor of Medicine and an internationally
recognized epidemiologist focused on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of head
and neck cancers, lung cancer, and melanoma. His research focuses on biomarkers and
genetic determinants for the DNA repair deficient phenotype and
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