Journal article

Relative telomere lengths in tumor and normal mucosa are related to disease progression and chromosome instability profiles in colorectal cancer

N Suraweera, D Mouradov, S Li, RN Jorissen, D Hampson, A Ghosh, N Sengupta, M Thaha, S Ahmed, M Kirwan, F Aleva, D Propper, RM Feakins, T Vulliamy, NJ Elwood, P Tian, RL Ward, NJ Hawkins, ZZ Xu, PL Molloy Show all

Oncotarget | IMPACT JOURNALS LLC | Published : 2016

Abstract

Telomeric dysfunction is linked to colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation. However, the relationship of normal tissue and tumor telomere lengths with CRC progression, molecular features and prognosis is unclear. Here, we measured relative telomere length (RTL) by real-time quantitative PCR in 90 adenomas (aRTL), 419 stage I-IV CRCs (cRTL) and adjacent normal mucosa (nRTL). Age-adjusted RTL was analyzed against germline variants in telomere biology genes, chromosome instability (CIN), microsatellite instability (MSI), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP), TP53, KRAS, BRAF mutations and clinical outcomes. In 509 adenoma or CRC patients, nRTL decreased with advancing age. Female gender, proximal ..

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Grants

Awarded by National Science Foundation


Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Cancer Council Victoria (APP1060964; to O.M.S. and R.W) and the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. O.M.S. is a NHMRC R.D. Wright Biomedical Fellow (APP1062226). N.S. is a Barts and The London Trust Post-doctoral Fellow, A.G. a Constance Travis clinical fellow and N.Se. a Bowel & Cancer Research clinical fellow.