Genetically predicted telomere length is associated with clonal somatic copy number alterations in peripheral leukocytes.

ABSTRACT: Telomeres are DNA-protein structures at the ends of chromosomes essential in maintaining chromosomal stability. Observational studies have identified associations between telomeres and elevated cancer risk, including hematologic malignancies; but biologic mechanisms relating telomere length to cancer etiology remain unclear. Our study sought to better understand the relationship between telomere length and cancer risk by evaluating genetically-predicted telomere length (gTL) in relation to the presence of clonal somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) in peripheral blood leukocytes. Genotyping array data were acquired from 431,507 participants in the UK Biobank and used to detect SCNAs from intensity information and infer telomere length using a polygenic risk score (PRS) of variants previ

SUBMITTER: Brown DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7608979 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature