SynthesisBMC cancer2019
Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) influences survival in soft tissue sarcomas: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Telomeric DNA-Promyelocytic Leukemia (TEL-PML) Colocalization as an ALT Proxy in Relation to Metastatic Behavior in Osteosarcoma: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Deciphering lncRNA and circRNA control of autophagy in osteosarcoma mechanisms and clinical translation.Discover oncology · 2026Review
- Review
- Silencing of SOD1 sensitises ATRX-deficient cells to camptothecin treatment through increased activity of the alternative lengthening of telomeres pathway.Human molecular genetics · 2025Article
- Loss of function ofiScience · 2025Article
- Alternative lengthening of telomeres confers favorable prognosis in chondrosarcomas.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Detection of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres via Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization for the Prognostication of PanNETs and Other Neoplasms.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2025Article
- Telomere Dynamics in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Critical Synthesis.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Beginning at the ends: telomere and telomere-based cancer therapeutics.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2024Review
- Identification of alternative lengthening of telomeres-related genes prognosis model in hepatocellular carcinoma.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- The Future of Targeted Therapy for Leiomyosarcoma.Cancers · 2024Review
- Alternative lengthening of telomeres: mechanism and the pathogenesis of cancer.Journal of clinical pathology · 2024Article
- Telomeres and telomerase in Sarcoma disease and therapy.International journal of medical sciences · 2024Review
- Prevalence of alternative lengthening of telomeres in pediatric sarcomas determined by the telomeric DNA C-circle assay.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Telomere maintenance mechanism subtype reveals different immune activity in vestibular schwannoma.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2023Article
- Combining old and new concepts in targeting telomerase for cancer therapy: transient, immediate, complete and combinatory attack (TICCA).Cancer cell international · 2023Review
- Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres in Pediatric High-Grade Glioma and Therapeutic Implications.Cancers · 2023Article
- Review
- Association of longer telomere length in cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts with worse prognosis.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2023Article
- Alternative telomere maintenance mechanism iniScience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is a telomerase-independent mechanism used by a broad range of neoplasms to maintain telomere length, permitting uncontrolled replication during their progression. ALT has been described in different types of sarcoma, but a comprehensive analysis of its clinical significance is still lacking. Therefore, we provide here the first meta-analysis on this topic.
methodsWe searched SCOPUS and PubMed through July 2018 to identify all studies that investigated the prognostic role of ALT in sarcomas. We considered the risk of death (risk ratio, RR) calculated as the number of death vs. total participants during follow-up in ALT+ versus ALT- patients as the primary outcome. The secondary outcome was the hazard ratio (HR), adjusted for the maximum number of covariates available, using ALT- patients as reference.
resultsEight articles comprising a total of 551 patients with sarcomas (226 ALT+ and 325 ALT-) were selected. The ALT+ group showed a higher mitotic count and a higher tumor grade compared with the ALT- group (p < 0.01). Furthermore, we demonstrate a strong impact of ALT on survival. In fact, ALT+ patients showed a statistically significant higher risk of death than ALT- patients, when also considering data from multivariate analyses (RR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.15-1.96; p = 0.003; HR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.22-3.38; p = 0.007).
conclusionsOur results indicate that ALT is associated with an increased risk of death in patients with sarcoma. In these neoplasms, ALT should be taken into account for a precise prognostic stratification and design of potential therapeutic strategies.
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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.