Alwehaidah Materah Salem, Al-Awadhi Rana, AlRoomy Moody, Baqer Tahani Al
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Jabriyah City, State of Kuwait.
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, PO Box: 31470, Sulaibikhat, 90805, Kuwait.
Mol Genet Genomics. 2024 Dec 20;300(1):2. doi: 10.1007/s00438-024-02207-5.
. Despite the establishment of a link between telomere status and carcinogenesis, lack of a consensus in the cancer specific pattern of telomere length has a severe impact on the use of relative telomere length (RTL) in cancer diagnosis. The disparity in assessing the relationship between telomere length and cancer risk is complex and may vary as it is influenced by other factors. The objective of this study is to thoroughly examine the intricate relationship between telomere length and cancer incidence in Papillary Thyroid Cancer (PTC) depending on the tumor type, stage, patients' sex and age. Therefore, the current study is focused on the association of RTL in PTC patients with different clinicopathological characteristics and compared with controls to determine the risk of PTC and expected survival time after surgery.
. This study included 126 patients with PTC and 80 controls. RTL in thyroid tissues was measured using quantitative (q) PCR. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using logistic regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression were used to analyze postsurgical outcomes.
. The RTL of patients was significantly shorter than that of controls. A short RTL was significantly correlated with an elevated risk of PTC in patients aged ≥ 55 years, female sex, classic subtype, and tumor size > 2 cm. A short RTL did not affect the overall survival of patients with PTC; however, it was associated with poor survival in patients with tumor size > 2 cm and tumor invasion.
. This unique study combines the use of RTL with various clinicopathological features of patients with PTC. In conclusion, RTL is a promising tumor marker that correlates with the clinical characteristics of patients with PTC. Specifically, RTL < 0.6 could be used with age, sex, tumor size > 2 cm and tumor invasion to predict the risk of PTC development and prognosis of the disease. This study will open new horizon in the use of molecular marker such as RTL for understanding its association with increased cancer risk in patients with different clinicopathological features.
尽管已经确立了端粒状态与致癌作用之间的联系，但在癌症中端粒长度的特定模式缺乏共识，这严重影响了相对端粒长度（RTL）在癌症诊断中的应用。评估端粒长度与癌症风险之间关系的差异很复杂，并且可能因受其他因素影响而有所不同。本研究的目的是根据肿瘤类型、分期、患者性别和年龄，全面研究甲状腺乳头状癌（PTC）中端粒长度与癌症发病率之间的复杂关系。因此，本研究聚焦于PTC患者中RTL与不同临床病理特征的关联，并与对照组进行比较，以确定PTC的风险及术后预期生存时间。
本研究纳入了126例PTC患者和80例对照。使用定量（q）PCR测量甲状腺组织中的RTL。采用逻辑回归分析计算比值比（OR）和95%置信区间（CI）。使用Kaplan-Meier法和Cox回归分析术后结果。
患者的RTL显著短于对照组。短RTL与年龄≥55岁、女性、经典亚型以及肿瘤大小>2 cm的患者发生PTC的风险升高显著相关。短RTL不影响PTC患者的总生存期；然而，它与肿瘤大小>2 cm和肿瘤侵犯的患者生存不良相关。
这项独特的研究将RTL的使用与PTC患者的各种临床病理特征相结合。总之，RTL是一种有前景的肿瘤标志物，与PTC患者的临床特征相关。具体而言，RTL<0.6可与年龄、性别、肿瘤大小>2 cm和肿瘤侵犯一起用于预测PTC发生风险和疾病预后。本研究将为使用诸如RTL等分子标志物开辟新的视野，以了解其与不同临床病理特征患者癌症风险增加之间的关联。
