title: Telomere length in mantle cell lymphoma.
abstract: Telomere shortening is of pathogenic and prognostic importance in cancers. In the present study, we analyzed telomere length in 73 mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), 55 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and 20 normal B-cell samples using quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) to study its association with disease characteristics and outcome. Telomere length was found to be highly variable in MCL (range, 2.2-13.8 kb; median, 4.3 kb). Telomere dysfunction in MCL was evident from comparison with normal B cells (median, 7.5 kb), but had no significant association with any biologic or clinical feature. This was in contrast to CLL, in which a significant correlation of short telomeres with poor prognostic subgroups was confirmed. There was a trend toward an increased number of genomic aberrations with shortening of telomeres in MCL. No difference in survival was observed between the groups with short and long telomeres, indicating that, as opposed to CLL, telomere length is not of prognostic relevance in MCL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine III, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Billy Michael Chelliah
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Jebaraj
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kienle
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lechel
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heuberger
authors.forename: German
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenwald
authors.forename: Thomas F E
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zenz
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Döhner
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stilgenbauer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D020522:Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D011379:Prognosis; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D059506:Telomere Shortening / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains