title: Common variants near TERC are associated with leukocyte telomere length in the Chinese Han population.
abstract: A recent genome-wide association study has identified an association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and a locus at 3q26 that includes TERC. In order to evaluate the effects of the SNPs rs12696304 and rs16847897 near TERC in the population of mainland China, we conducted an association study of LTL focusing on these two candidate SNPs in a sample of 4016 Chinese Han individuals. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of LTL with each SNP adjusted for age, gender and diabetes status. In the study, we confirmed the association of SNP rs12696304 and rs16847897 near TERC with LTL in the Chinese Han population (P ∼ 4.5 × 10(-3) and 9.5 × 10(-5), respectively). Each copy of the major allele of rs12696304 and rs16847897 was associated with a shorter mean telomere length of 0.024 and 0.031 T/S respectively, which is equivalent to about 3 and 4 years of average age-related telomere attrition. Our short report confirmed the effects of SNPs near TERC on LTL in the Chinese Han population for the first time.
authors.affiliation: Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: DaiZhan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: MengYuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.forename: Baojie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology; D016014:Linear Models; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012737:Sex Factors; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D016615:Telomere / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase