The dynamics of changes in telomere length predicts the development of cancer
As a result of joint work, researchers at Northwestern and Harvard Universities have established that a characteristic model of changes in the length of telomeres of blood cells can be used as a biomarker that allows predicting the development of cancer several years before the onset of symptoms. The described model consists of a period of rapid shortening of telomeres, followed by a 3-4-year period of stabilization of their length.
For many years, scientists have been trying to figure out how cancer affects the length of the telomeres of blood cells, which are considered a marker of biological age. However, the data obtained contradict each other. The results of some studies indicate a shorter telomere length in cancer patients, the results of others indicate a longer one, while in a number of studies no correlation was found at all.
In their latest work, the authors managed to explain these differences. To do this, they repeatedly measured the telomere length of 792 people for 13 years, 135 of whom eventually revealed various types of cancer, including prostate cancer, skin, lung, leukemia, etc.
Initially, the researchers found that telomeres aged significantly faster (as evidenced by their faster shortening) in people with developing but not yet diagnosed tumors. The telomeres of such people were chronologically 15 years older than the telomeres of people who did not have incipient tumors.
However, further analysis of the data showed that the process of accelerated aging of telomeres stopped and their length stabilized 3-4 years before the onset of symptoms and the detection of a tumor (see the graph from the article in EBioMedicine).
This pronounced pattern extended to all analyzed tumor types, so it can be used as a prognostic biomarker for early cancer diagnosis. Moreover, the identification of this pattern explains the inconsistency of the results of earlier works.
It should also be noted that the authors for the first time analyzed the dynamics of changes in telomere length before the detection of cancer. This is extremely important, since antitumor therapy can lead to shortening of telomeres and after the end of treatment it is impossible to determine what affected their length: the disease or its treatment.
Article by Lifang Hou et al. Blood telomere length attraction and cancer development in the normative aging study cohort is published in the journal EBioMedicine in open access.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine:
Telomere Changes Predict Cancer.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.05.2015