Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011 Dec;20(12):2642-5. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-11-0890. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Recent studies reported associations of the relative telomere length (RTL) and TERT variants with risk of several cancers, which have not been comprehensively investigated in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).
We detected RTL in peripheral blood lymphocytes and genotyped six selected functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the TERT gene in 888 SCCHN cases and 885 cancer-free controls of non-Hispanic whites.
Overall, we did not observe significant associations between RTL and SCCHN risk (adjusted OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.80-1.17 for below versus above the median; P(trend) = 0.618) nor between the six TERT SNPs and SCCHN risk. We also found no associations between RTL and TERT SNPs.
Our results suggest that RTL and TERT functional polymorphisms may not play a major role in the etiology of SCCHN. Large prospective studies are needed to validate our findings.
Although our results suggest no association among RTL, TERT functional polymorphisms, and SCCHN risk, this study may contribute to future meta-analysis.
最近的研究报告称，相对端粒长度（RTL）和 TERT 变体与多种癌症的风险相关，但这些关联在头颈部鳞状细胞癌（SCCHN）中尚未得到全面研究。
我们检测了 888 例 SCCHN 病例和 885 例非西班牙裔白人无癌对照者外周血淋巴细胞中的 RTL，并对 TERT 基因的 6 个选定功能单核苷酸多态性（SNP）进行了基因分型。
总体而言，我们未观察到 RTL 与 SCCHN 风险之间存在显著关联（校正后的 OR = 0.97；中位数以下与中位数以上相比；P（趋势）= 0.618），也未观察到 6 个 TERT SNP 与 SCCHN 风险之间存在关联。我们还未发现 RTL 与 TERT SNP 之间存在关联。
我们的结果表明，RTL 和 TERT 功能多态性可能在 SCCHN 的发病机制中不起主要作用。需要进行大型前瞻性研究来验证我们的发现。
尽管我们的结果表明 RTL、TERT 功能多态性与 SCCHN 风险之间没有关联，但这项研究可能有助于未来的荟萃分析。
