Longer telomeres – less chance of cancer

Cancer risk linked to leukocyte telomere length
Copper newsAustrian scientists have found that the risk of developing a malignant tumor and death from it depends on the length of leukocyte telomeres, MedPage Today reports.

Employees of the Innsbruck Medical University observed 787 participants in the Italian prospective Bruneck study from 1995 to 2005. The age of the volunteers ranged from 40 to 79 years. At the beginning of the study, they determined the length of telomeres in capillary blood leukocytes. At that time, no signs of cancer were found in all participants.

Over the years of the study, 11.7% of the volunteers had some kind of malignant neoplasm. Skin cancer, except melanoma, was not taken into account. The average length of telomeres in cancer patients was significantly less than in the rest of the study participants.

After adjusting for other risk factors, it turned out that compared to those with the maximum telomere length, volunteers with the shortest telomeres were three times more likely to get cancer and 11 times more likely to die from it in a 10–year period. The study participants with an average telomere length had twice the risk of cancer compared to the participants with the longest telomeres.

At the same time, shorter telomeres were more often associated with the most malignant tumors, such as stomach, lung and ovarian cancers.

According to the head of the study Stefan Kiechl, the results of the study are not yet applicable to all people, since it was conducted only in one region with the participation of volunteers of the Caucasian race only.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.07.2010