Han Jiali, Qureshi Abrar A, Prescott Jennifer, Guo Qun, Ye Li, Hunter David J, De Vivo Immaculata
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
J Invest Dermatol. 2009 Feb;129(2):415-21. doi: 10.1038/jid.2008.238. Epub 2008 Jul 31.
Telomere length is important in tumorigenesis. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we prospectively measured relative telomere length in a nested case-control study within the Nurses' Health Study: 218 melanoma cases, 285 squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) cases, 300 basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 870 controls. We observed that shorter telomeres were associated with a decreased number of moles (P=0.002) and a decreased risk of melanoma. Women in the second and first quartiles, those with the shortest telomere length, had an odds ratio (OR) for melanoma of 0.54 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.29-1.01) and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.31-1.13), respectively, compared with those in the fourth quartile (P, trend=0.09). There was no clear trend between telomere length and SCC risk. In contrast, we found that shorter telomere length was associated with an increased risk of BCC. Compared with those in the fourth quartile, women in the first quartile had an OR of 1.85 (95% CI, 0.94-3.62) (P, trend=0.09). The opposing associations observed should be interpreted with caution, and further research is needed to confirm these possible associations.
端粒长度在肿瘤发生过程中很重要。在护士健康研究中的一项巢式病例对照研究中，我们使用定量实时聚合酶链反应前瞻性地测量了相对端粒长度：218例黑色素瘤病例、285例鳞状细胞癌（SCC）病例、300例基底细胞癌（BCC）病例和870名对照。我们观察到，较短的端粒与痣数量减少（P = 0.002）以及黑色素瘤风险降低相关。处于第二和第一四分位数的女性，即端粒长度最短的女性，与处于第四四分位数的女性相比，患黑色素瘤的优势比（OR）分别为0.54（95%置信区间（CI），0.29 - 1.01）和0.59（95%CI，0.31 - 1.13）（P趋势 = 0.09）。端粒长度与SCC风险之间没有明显趋势。相比之下，我们发现较短的端粒长度与BCC风险增加相关。与处于第四四分位数的女性相比，处于第一四分位数的女性的OR为1.85（95%CI，0.94 - 3.62）（P趋势 = 0.09）。观察到的相反关联应谨慎解释，需要进一步研究来证实这些可能的关联。
