Title: Telomere Length and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Nested Case-control Study in Taiwan Cancer Screening Program Cohort.

Authors: Zeng, Hui; Wu, Hui-Chen; Wang, Qiao; Yang, Hwai-I; Chen, Chien-Jen; Santella, Regina M; Shen, Jing

Published In Anticancer Res, (2017 02)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Telomere length (TL) measured in peripheral blood leucocytes (PBL) might be a useful biomarker to identify elevated cancer risk. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A case-control study which included 268 newly-diagnosed HCC cases and 536 matched controls, was conducted. Absolute TL in PBL was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: The overall median length of TL was not statistically shorter in HCC cases compared to healthy controls. However, we found a significant synergistic effect of longer TL and HCV infection to increase HCC risk with a relative excess risk of 6.86 (95% CI: 2.14-11.58). Among HCC cases, significant shorter TLs were observed for <5 years (OR=3.93, 95% CI: 2.00-7.72); 5-10 years (OR=2.16, 95% CI: 1.10-4.24) compared to >10 years prior to diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Shorter PBL TL alone was not significantly associated with increased HCC risk. Among HCC cases, significant shorter TLs were observed for <5 years prior to diagnosis.

PubMed ID: 28179311

MeSH Terms: Analysis of Variance; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/ethnology; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/genetics*; Case-Control Studies; Cohort Studies; Early Detection of Cancer/methods; Female; Humans; Leukocytes, Mononuclear/metabolism; Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis; Liver Neoplasms/ethnology; Liver Neoplasms/genetics*; Male; Middle Aged; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Risk Factors; Taiwan; Telomere Homeostasis*; Telomere Shortening*; Telomere/genetics*