Short telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes in head and neck cancer: Findings in a Brazilian cohort

Background Telomeres are specialized DNA structures that are critical to maintain cell homeostasis and to avoid genomic instability. Epidemiological studies have examined the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and risk of cancers, but the findings remain conflicting. Methods Mean LT...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Head & neck 2019-03, Vol.41 (3), p.672-677
Main Authors: Alves‐Paiva, Raquel M, Gutierrez‐Rodrigues, Fernanda, Pereira‐Martins, Diego A, Figueiredo, David Livingstone Alves, Clé, Diego V, Conti‐Freitas, Luís Carlos, Mamede, Rui Celso Martins, Calado, Rodrigo T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcoholism
Cancer
Drug abuse
Genomic instability
Head & neck cancer
head and neck cancer
Homeostasis
Leukocytes
Peripheral blood
Smoke
telomere length
Telomeres
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Summary:Background Telomeres are specialized DNA structures that are critical to maintain cell homeostasis and to avoid genomic instability. Epidemiological studies have examined the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and risk of cancers, but the findings remain conflicting. Methods Mean LTL was measured by quantitative PCR in 97 patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and 262 healthy controls. The association between LTL and patients' clinical status, such as smoke, alcoholism, and overall survival, were also evaluated. Results The age‐adjusted LTL was significantly shorter in patients with HNC in comparison to healthy controls (P = .0003). Patients with shortest LTL had an increased risk to develop HNC (P 
ISSN:1043-3074
1097-0347
DOI:10.1002/hed.25472