Kotsopoulos Joanne, Prescott Jennifer, De Vivo Immaculata, Fan Isabel, Mclaughlin John, Rosen Barry, Risch Harvey, Sun Ping, Narod Steven A
Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014 Nov;23(11):2603-6. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-14-0885. Epub 2014 Aug 26.
Telomeres are essential for the maintenance of chromosomal integrity. Telomere shortening leads to genomic instability, which is hypothesized to play a role in cancer development and prognosis. No studies to date have evaluated the prognostic significance of telomere length for ovarian cancer.
We examined whether relative telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes was associated with survival following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. We analyzed data from a large population-based study of incident ovarian cancer conducted in Ontario between 1995 and 2004. Telomere length was measured using the quantitative PCR-based relative telomere length assay and vital status was determined by computerized record linkage and by chart review (n = 1,042). Proportional hazard models were used to estimate ovarian cancer-specific survival HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with quartiles of telomere length z score.
We found no significant relationship between telomere length and ovarian cancer-specific mortality (P log-rank test = 0.55). Compared with women in the lowest quartile of telomere length z score, the HR for women in the highest three quartiles of telomere length z score combined was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.77-1.10). The corresponding estimates for serous and nonserous tumors were 0.68 (95% CI, 0.66-1.13) and 1.13 (95% CI, 0.71-1.79), respectively.
Our data provide preliminary evidence that telomere length likely does not predict outcome after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
This represents the first study to suggest no prognostic role of telomere length for ovarian cancer.
端粒对于维持染色体完整性至关重要。端粒缩短会导致基因组不稳定，据推测这在癌症发展和预后中起作用。迄今为止，尚无研究评估端粒长度对卵巢癌的预后意义。
我们研究了外周血白细胞中的相对端粒长度是否与卵巢癌诊断后的生存率相关。我们分析了1995年至2004年在安大略省进行的一项基于人群的大型卵巢癌发病率研究的数据。使用基于定量PCR的相对端粒长度测定法测量端粒长度，并通过计算机化记录链接和病历审查确定生命状态（n = 1,042）。使用比例风险模型估计与端粒长度z评分四分位数相关的卵巢癌特异性生存HR和95%置信区间（CI）。
我们发现端粒长度与卵巢癌特异性死亡率之间无显著关系（P对数秩检验 = 0.55）。与端粒长度z评分最低四分位数的女性相比，端粒长度z评分最高的三个四分位数的女性合并后的HR为0.88（95% CI，0.77 - 1.10）。浆液性和非浆液性肿瘤的相应估计值分别为0.68（95% CI，0.66 - 1.13）和1.13（95% CI，0.71 - 1.79）。
我们的数据提供了初步证据，表明端粒长度可能无法预测卵巢癌诊断后的预后。
这是第一项表明端粒长度对卵巢癌无预后作用的研究。
