Mendelian Randomization and mediation analysis of leukocyte telomere length and risk of lung and head and neck cancers.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Evidence from observational studies of telomere length (TL) has been conflicting regarding its direction of association with cancer risk. We investigated the causal relevance of TL for lung and head and neck cancers using Mendelian Randomization (MR) and mediation analyses.

Methods

We developed a novel genetic instrument for TL in chromosome 5p15.33, using variants identified through deep-sequencing, that were genotyped in 2051 cancer-free subjects. Next, we conducted an MR analysis of lung (16 396 cases, 13 013 controls) and head and neck cancer (4415 cases, 5013 controls) using eight genetic instruments for TL. Lastly, the 5p15.33 instrument and distinct 5p15.33 lung cancer risk loci were evaluated using two-sample mediation analysis, to quantify their direct an

SUBMITTER: Kachuri L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6659464 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature