title: Association of leukocyte telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes with endometrial cancer risk in Caucasian Americans.
abstract: Telomeres are the protective structure at the ends of each chromosome and play an important role in maintaining genomic integrity. Interindividual variation of telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes has been associated with the risks of developing many human diseases including several cancers. The association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and endometrial cancer risk is still inconsistent. Using a case-control study of endometrial cancer patients (n = 139) and control subjects (n = 139) in a Caucasian population, we assessed the association of relative LTL with the risk of endometrial cancer. We calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariate logistic regression. We also determined the joint effects of LTL with established risk factors of endometrial cancer. The normalized LTL was significantly longer in endometrial cancer cases (median, 0.93; range, 0.19-1.62) than in controls (median, 0.70; range, 0.03-2.14) (P < 0.001). When individuals were dichotomized into long and short groups based on the median LTL value in the controls, individuals with long LTL had a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer (adjusted OR, 3.84; 95%CI, 2.16-6.85; P < 0.001) compared to those with short LTL. When individuals were categorized into three groups or four groups according to tertile or quartile LTL value in the controls, there was a significant dose-response association between LTL and the risk of endometrial cancer (P < 0.001). Joint effects between LTL and smoking status, body mass index and a history of hypertension or diabetes in elevating endometrial cancer risk were observed. Long telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes is associated with a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, China.
authors.forename: Yuhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA and.
authors.forename: Liren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA and.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA and jiangu@mdanderson.org xwu@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Xifeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA and jiangu@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis