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Research Article

A common variant near TERC and telomere length are associated with susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Chinese

, , , , , , & show all
Pages 1688-1692 | Received 02 Jan 2012, Accepted 25 Feb 2012, Published online: 26 Mar 2012
 

Abstract

Telomeres are involved in maintaining chromosomal stability, cellular immortality and tumorigenesis. A recent genome-wide association study has identified an association between telomere length and two common variants (rs12696304 and rs16847897) at 3q26 that includes TERC. We hypothesized that the two variants and relative telomere length (RTL) would be predictors of the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A case–control study of 570 cases and 673 cancer-free controls among Chinese children was performed. We found that there was a protective relationship between the second and third quartiles of RTL and risk of ALL [adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) by quartile: 0.65 (0.47–0.91), 0.56 (0.40–0.79)], compared with the first quartile (shortest) RTL. Moreover, rs16847897 CG genotype increased the risk of childhood ALL by 29% compared with the CC genotype. Our findings indicate that extreme telomere length may be a potential predictor for future risk of ALL, and TERC rs16847897 may contribute to the development of childhood ALL.

Acknowledgement

This study was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30972444 and 81102089), the Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2010080), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2011773 and BK2011775), the Key Program for Basic Research of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education (08KJA330001 and 11KJB330002), the Qin Lan Project of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, and Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (Public Health and Preventive Medicine).

Potential conflict of interest

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

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