Long telomeres in peripheral blood leukocytes are associated with an increased risk of soft tissue sarcoma

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Human telomeres consisting of long, tandem repeats of the nucleotide sequence TTAGGG at the chromosome ends are essential for maintaining chromosomal stability. Previous epidemiologic studies have indicated that shorter telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) is associated with the development of many cancers. However, the relation between PBL telomere length and the risk of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) has not been investigated. METHODS: The relative telomere length (RTL) was determined in PBLs using real-time polymerase chain reaction in this case-control study. The study participants included 137 patients with histologically confirmed STS (cases) who had received no prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy and 137 healthy controls who were frequency-matched to cases on age, sex, and ethnicity. RESULTS: Patients in the case group had significantly longer RTL than controls (1.46 ± 0.42 for cases vs 1.15 ± 0.39 for controls; P