(Press-News.org) CHICAGO— Hepatitis B-infected patients with significantly longer telomeres—the caps on the end of chromosomes that protect our genetic data— were found to have an increased risk of getting liver cancer compared to those with shorter ones, according to findings presented by researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012.
The relative telomere length in hepatitis B-infected cases with liver cancer was about 50 percent longer than the telomere length of the cancer-free hepatitis B-infected controls.
A strong correlation between telomere length and non-cirrhotic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver cancer commonly caused from hepatitis B and C viral infections, could help physicians better stratify the hepatitis B population in an effort to better prevent and treat the disease.
Previous reports have suggested telomere length plays a role in cancer prediction; however, there have been conflicting results and the majority of the studies measured telomere length in liver cells (hepatocytes) and white blood cells.
Here, Hushan Yang, Ph.D., of the Division of Population Science at the Department of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center, and colleagues used circulating cell-free serum DNA from an existing and ongoing clinical cohort at the Liver Disease Prevention Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Tapping into a cohort of almost 2,600 Korean Americans, a population disproportionately infected with hepatitis B, the team analyzed blood samples from over 400 hepatitis B-infected patients to compare relative telomere length using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
This nested case-control study included 140 hepatitis B-HCC cases and 280 cancer-free hepatitis B controls. Demographic and clinical data were obtained for each patient through medical chart review and consulting with treating physicians.
All participants were restricted to Korean hepatitis B patients to control the confounding effects of ethnicity and HCC etiology. The large majority of the patients were infected at birth or childhood, making this population an ideal resource to study the long-term outcome of hepatitis B infection at the population level.
The hepatitis B-HCC cases were found to have a relative telomere length about 50 percent longer than the cancer-free controls (0.31 versus 0.20, P=0.003), a statistically significant difference.
The difference, however, was also only evident in males and in non-cirrhotic patients, and not cirrhotic patients, possibly because that the effect conferred by telomere length was overshadowed by the strong association between cirrhosis and HCC. There were also no statistical differences between cohorts with respect to age and smoking status.
"This is the first study to demonstrate that relative telomere length in circulating cell-free serum DNA could potentially be used as a simple, inexpensive and non- invasive biomarker for HCC risk," said Dr. Yang. "This sets the stage for further retrospective and prospective investigations, in-depth molecular characterizations, and other assessments to determine the clinical value of serum DNA telomere length in risk prediction and early detection of HCC."
INFORMATION:
Co-authors of the study were Shaogui Wan, Xiaoying Fu, Ronald Myers, Ph.D., Division of Population Science, Department of Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University; Hie-Won Hann, M.D., Richard Hann, Jennifer Au, M.D., Division of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University; and Jinliang Xing, Department of Cell Biology, Fourth Military Medical University in China.
END
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The dietary supplement gamma-linoleic acid can inhibit the growth of a
subset of pancreatic cancer cells and selectively promote cancer cell death in mice, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The supplement, a fatty acid also known as GLA, worked particularly well when combined with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, the researchers say. The findings were presented today by Mayo Clinic pathologist Ruth Lupu, Ph.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012. "One of the most devastating facts about pancreatic cancer is the ...
Sonic Games 365, a big player in the free gaming universe is now offering even more Adobe Flash games that incorporate beloved Sega characters such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and more. Sonic Games 365 has these added four brand new titles to its line-up: Sonic Spin Break, Sonic's Crazy Coin Collect, Sonic Rolling Ball, and Super Mario Save Sonic. These four games are all about promoting the true meaning of Sonic Games 365, which has been from day one to always have the largest selection of games featuring, feature everybody's favorite blue hedgehog, and never charge ...
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A study presented today by Mayo Clinic researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012 in Chicago identified two genes that are optimal targets to be analyzed in a new noninvasive test for colorectal cancer developed by Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with Exact Sciences Corporation. The test uses a small sample of a patient's stool to check for specific DNA changes, known as gene methylation, that occur as cancer develops. The test can quickly detect both early stage cancer and precancerous polyps.
"This study ...
OTTAWA, Canada -- Dr. Roger Zemek, Director of Emergency Research at the CHEO Research Institute and ED physician, and assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, has overseen the creation and implementation of a Medical Directive that now empowers nurses to administer an oral steroid treatment, which has reduced wait time and improved patient care. This research is published today in Pediatrics.
Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children requiring a visit to Emergency. Every year, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) ...
CHICAGO --- A new drug developed by Northwestern Medicine scientists prevented human prostate cancer cells from spreading to other tissues without any toxic effects to normal cells or tissues. The drug turns off the "go" switch in the cancer cells and immobilizes them.
Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in North American males. Death is mainly caused by metastasis, prostate cancer cells moving out of prostate tissue and spreading to other organs.
"This is an extremely promising new therapeutic that locks down aggressive prostate cancer cells ...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—April 3, 2012—Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have enhanced our understanding of how a protein linked to Alzheimer's disease keeps young brains healthy, but can damage them later in life—suggesting new research avenues for treating this devastating disease.
In the Journal of Neuroscience, available online today, researchers in the laboratory of Yadong Huang, MD, PhD, have uncovered the distinct roles that the apoE protein plays in young vs. aging brains. These findings, which could inform the future of Alzheimer's drug development, come at a time ...
New research from the University of Adelaide could help protect one of the world's most globally threatened tree species - the big leaf mahogany - from extinction.
Big leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is the most prized mahogany timber around the world. It is at risk of extinction in its native habitats because of the timber trade, particularly in Central and South America.
To better understand how such a threatened species can be brought back from the brink of extinction, scientists from the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute have studied the important ...
Plants breathe through stomata
Plant leaves are protected from drying out by an airtight wax layer. They breathe and release water through microscopic pores called stomata. Every year 40% of atmospheric CO2 and twice the volume of water found in our atmosphere pass through these pores. This means that stomata are not only important for plant development but also for our climate!
It's no surprise then that these pores appear to be strictly regulated by plants. Stomata react extremely fast to internal plant signals and changes in the environment. When rain is scarce, ...
What effect does a TV advert have on a viewer? How does it bring about a change in their knowledge, emotions or intentions? These questions have existed alongside advertising ever since it began. Through a psycho-physiological study developed jointly by El Bureau de la Comunicación, the Tecnalia Centre for Applied Research, and the UPV/EHU, it has been possible to measure the emotional response of a person to a series of television adverts.
The aim of the study, carried out for the first time entirely in the Basque Autonomous Community (region), was to shed some light ...
Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus and an etiological agent for Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma (PEL). PELs are aggressive lymphomas with reported median survival time shorter than six months after diagnosis.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki discovered that spontaneous induction of KSHV lytic replication in tumors drastically attenuated the p53-dependent apoptotic response not only to a targeted therapy (Nutlin-3) but also to genotoxic anti-cancer agents.
The findings by the research groups of Päivi Ojala (Institute of ...
