Telomere Length and Mortality Following a Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer
Menée au Canada sur la période 1995-2004, cette étude en population évalue l'association entre la longueur des télomères des leucocytes du sang périphérique et la survie de patientes atteintes d'un cancer de l'ovaire
Background: 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.
Methods: 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 (qPCR)-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 hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with quartiles of telomere length z score.
Results: We found no significant relationship between telomere length and ovarian cancer-specific mortality (P log-rank test = 0.55). Compared to 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 non serous tumors were 0.68 (95%CI 0.66-1.13) and 1.13 (95%CI 0.71-1.79), respectively.
Conclusions: Our data provide preliminary evidence that telomere length likely does not predict outcome after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention , résumé, 2014