Constitutive short telomere length of chromosome 17p and 12q but not 11q and 2p is associated with an increased risk for esophageal cancer.

Shortened telomere length may cause chromosomal instability in Barrett's esophagus and thus promote tumorigenesis. However, whether short telomere length in all chromosomes or just some of them is associated with increased esophageal cancer (EC) risk is largely unknown. To address this question, we examined the overall and chromosome-specific telomere lengths of 17p, 12q, 2p, and 11q and assessed their associations with EC risk. In a case-control study with 94 EC cases and 94 matched controls, the overall telomere length and the chromosome-specific telomere lengths of 17p, 12q, 2p, and 11q in peripheral blood lymphocytes were determined by a real-time PCR and a modified single telomere length analysis assay, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between telomere length and EC risk. Compared with controls, EC patients had significantly shorter overall telomere lengths (P = 0.004) and chromosome-specific telomere lengths of 17p (P = 0.003) and 12q (P = 0.006) but not of 11q (P = 0.632) and 2p (P = 0.972). Furthermore, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the short overall telomere length and chromosome-specific telomere lengths of 17p and 12q were associated with a dose-dependent increase in EC risk. Our study provides the first epidemiologic evidence that short telomere length of 17p and 12q plays an important role in esophageal carcinogenesis, suggesting that short telomere length of specific chromosomes is associated with the etiology of different cancer types.