Telomere length in myelodysplastic syndromes

Abstract

The relationship between telomere length (TL) and predisposition to myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) remains unclear. We compared peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) TL among cases of histologically confirmed MDS (n = 65) who were treatment-naive with no prior cancer history to age-matched controls (n = 63). Relative TL was measured in PBLs and saliva by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in CD15+ and CD19+ cells by flow cytometry-fluorescence in situ hybridization (flow-FISH). Human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene (hTERT) mutations were assessed by PCR. After adjustment for age and sex, relative TLs were reduced in PBLs (p = 0.02), CD15+ (p = 0.01), CD19+ (p = 0.25), and saliva (p = 0.13) in MDS cases versus controls, although only the PBL and CD15+ results were statistically significant. Among MDS cases, CD15+ and CD19+ cell TLs were positively correlated (p = 0.03). PBL TL was reduced among those occupationally exposed to paints and pesticides, but was not associated with hTERT genotype. Future studies are needed to further investigate constitutional telomere attrition as a possible predisposing factor for MDS.

Keywords:

• Myelodysplastic syndromes
• telomere length
• hTERT

Acknowledgements

The project was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute Grant P20 CA103676, R01CA129952, and a Young Investigator Award to D.E.R. from The Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation, Inc. We thank Kathy Heptinstall and Audrey Hassan from The Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation, Inc. for their assistance with study advertisement.

Potential conflict of interest: Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at www.informahealthcare.com/lal.