ArticleCancer epidemiology2013
Telomere length and risk of melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma.
Article in Cancer epidemiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between telomere length and cancer risk in population studies.Scientific reports · 2016Pooled it
- DCAF4, a novel gene associated with leucocyte telomere length.Journal of medical genetics · 2015Pooled it
- Determinants of chromosome-specific telomere lengths among 2573 All of Us participants.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A novel polymorphism in the TERT gene is associated with lower survival in male patients with melanoma.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Telomere length and skin cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.Oncology letters · 2025Article
- Causal effect between telomere length and thirteen types of cancer in Asian population: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Epigenetics insights from perceived facial aging.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- Role of telomere length in human carcinogenesis (Review).International journal of oncology · 2023Review
- Genetic and Epigenetic Inheritance at Telomeres.Epigenomes · 2022Review
- Age-related Differences in Tumour Characteristics and Prognostic Factors for Disease Progression in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.Acta dermato-venereologica · 2022Article
- TERT Promoter Mutations and Telomerase in Melanoma.Journal of oncology · 2022Review
- Current and Future Trends in Molecular Biomarkers for Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Predictive Purposes in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Review
- It's Not All Sunshine: Non-sun-related Melanoma Risk-factors.Acta dermato-venereologica · 2020Review
- A Truncating Germline Mutation ofThyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association · 2020Article
- Telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes and risk of renal cell carcinoma.Translational cancer research · 2019Article
- Telomeres and Telomerase in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Review
- Telomeres in Interstitial Lung Disease: The Short and the Long of It.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2019Review
- Telomere Biology and Human Phenotype.Cells · 2019Review
- Paternal Age and Transgenerational Telomere Length Maintenance: A Simulation Model.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- DNA methylation of the cancer-related genes F2RL3 and AHRR is associated with occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.Carcinogenesis · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTelomeres help maintain chromosomal structure and may influence tumorigenesis. We examined the association between telomere length and skin cancer in a clinic-based case-control study of 198 melanoma cases, 136 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases, 185 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 372 healthy controls.
methodsCases were histologically confirmed patients treated at the Moffitt Cancer Center and University of South Florida Dermatology Clinic in Tampa, FL. Controls self-reported no history of cancer and underwent a skin cancer screening exam at study enrollment to rule out the presence of skin cancer. Quantitative real time PCR was used to measure telomere length in peripheral blood samples.
resultsMelanoma patients had longer telomeres than controls (odds ratio (OR)=3.75; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.02-6.94 for highest versus lowest tertile) (P for trend=<0.0001). In contrast, longer telomere length was significantly inversely associated with SCC (OR=0.01; 95% CI: 0.00-0.05 for highest versus lowest tertile) (P for trend=<0.0001) and BCC (OR=0.10; 95% CI: 0.06-0.19 for highest versus lowest tertile) (P for trend=<0.0001).
conclusionTelomere length may be involved in the development of skin cancer, although the effect on cancer risk differs for melanoma and non-melanoma carcinomas. Our findings suggest that long telomere length is positively associated with melanoma while inversely associated with SCC and BCC.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.