9 Jul, 2010 in
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Study Shows Shorter Telomere Length Is Linked to Increased Cancer Risk By Reviewed By July 7, 2010 — Aging cells greatly increase your risk of deadly cancer — even incase you’re still relatively immature. Cells stay immature as extended as they can repair their own DNA. That’s up to telomeres, the proteins at the end of each chromosome. But every time a cell reproduces, its telomeres get shorter.
A few aging cells isn’t much of a problem. But a startling recent study now shows that people who accumulate a lot of cells with abridged telomeres possess greatly increased risk of fatal cancers. Compared to people at the top third of average telomere length, those at the bottom third possess a threefold higher risk of cancer. Those in the middle third possess twice the cancer risk as those with the longest telomeres. “Of note, telomere length was preferentially associated with individual cancers characterized by a high fatality rate such as gastric, lung, as well as ovarian cancer — but less so with tumors linked to best prognosis,” find Peter Willeit, MD, of Austria’s Innsbruck Health examination University, as well as colleagues. Those in the lowest third of telomere length were over 11 times more likely to die of cancer than those in the highest third. Those in the middle third were 5.6 times more likely to die of cancer. For 10 years, Willeit’s team followed 787 residents of Bruneck, Italy, who received all their health examination care at the alike local hospital. Ranging in age from 40 to 79, all were cancer without charge at the beginning of the study. A decade later, 92 of the study participants had developed cancer. At normal intervals, the researchers calculated the average telomere length of each participant’s pale blood cells. This led to a number of interesting findings:
What’s going on? Willeit as well as colleagues calculate that abridged telomere length gives a person the cancer risk of a much older individual. They suggest that abridged telomere length indicates an aging immune system. Moreover, they suggest that cells with abridged telomere length may reactivate the enzyme telomerase in a desperate attempt to restore telomere length. In doing so, these cells may accidentally transform themselves into tumor cells. The Willeit study appears in the July 7 issue of the Journal of the American Health examination Association. SOURCES: Willeit, P. Journal of the American Health examination Association, July 7, 2010; vol 304: pp 69-75. |
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