The investigators hypothesize that the age-adjusted telomere length in lung cancer patients before chemotherapy may be correlated to comorbidity status and predict outcome. The change of telomere length shortening after chemotherapy may relate to treatment side effect and treatment response.
Except chemotherapy, telomere shortening were also related to a variety of cellular stress, including hydrogen peroxide, UV, and x-irradiation, transforming growth factor-beta, overexpression of oncogenes such as Ha-Ras. The cellular stress induced telomere shortening and/or telomere dysfunction and promote accelerated senescence in normal and malignant cells. Oxidative stress, which presented in several chronic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, and chronic obstructive airway disease, was also found to be correlated with telomere shortening.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
300
National Taiwan University Hospital
Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan
RECRUITINGThe correlation between telomere length shortening and cancer treatment outcome
The clinical data, including age, gender, clinical presentation, performance status, disease stage at diagnosis, initial treatment modality, progression-free survival of initial treatment, and survival duration will be recorded. Blood sample collection, quality of life, and cognitive function assessment will be performed before chemotherapy, one and four weeks after initial chemotherapy for telomere length measurement. Telomere length is measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR). Patients' characteristics are compared with chi-square test. Progression-free survival and survival time are analyzed by Kaplan-Meier with log rank test.
Time frame: 5 years
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