The Effect on Melanoma Risk of Genes Previously Associated With Telomere Length
A partir de données d'études menées en Europe, en Israël, aux Etats-Unis et en Australie et incluant 11 108 cas et 13 933 témoins, cette étude analyse la relation entre sept polymorphismes à simple nucléotide de gènes précédemment identifiés comme associés à la longueur des télomères et le risque de mélanome
Telomere length has been associated with risk of many cancers, but results are inconsistent. Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with mean leukocyte telomere length were either genotyped or well-imputed in 11108 case patients and 13933 control patients from Europe, Israel, the United States and Australia, four of the seven SNPs reached a P value under .05 (two-sided). A genetic score that predicts telomere length, derived from these seven SNPs, is strongly associated (P = 8.92x10-9, two-sided) with melanoma risk. This demonstrates that the previously observed association between longer telomere length and increased melanoma risk is not attributable to confounding via shared environmental effects (such as ultraviolet exposure) or reverse causality. We provide the first proof that multiple germline genetic determinants of telomere length influence cancer risk.