Relationship between telomere DNA length of peripheral leukocytes and tumor type and prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To investigate the relationship between telomere DNA length of peripheral leukocytes and tumor type and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods From June 2016 to April 2017, the thoracic surgery department of Baoding First Central Hospital, Hebei Province was included in the study.The patients with lung cancer and TNM stage were confirmed by pathological examination, excluding the patients with unknown general records and lost visits.Finally, 55 patients were included, including 35 patients in adenocarcinoma group and 20 patients in other non-small cell lung cancer group.The telomere DNA length of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the survival of patients was followed up to analyze the relationship between telomere DNA length of peripheral blood leukocytes and tumor pathological type and prognosis. Results The telomere DNA length (T/s) (1.98±0.69) of adenocarcinoma group was larger than that of other non-small cell lung cancer group (1.43±0.67), P=0.007; there was no significant difference in the telomere DNA length of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with different TNM stages.According to the length of telomere DNA in peripheral blood, the average survival time of short telomere group was 17.149 months(95%CI=14.696~19.602), which was significantly lower than that of long telomere group (30.857 months, 95%CI=28.515~33.199), the difference was statistically significant (P=0.001); Cox proportional risk regression analysis showed that: telomere DNA length (P=0.041), tumor stage (P=0.007) were independent risk factors for prognosis of patients. Conclusion Telomere DNA length of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with lung adenocarcinoma is longer than that of other non-small cell lung cancer, and TNM stage and telomere DNA length of peripheral blood leukocytes are independent risk factors for prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer. Key words: Non-small cell lung cancer; Telomere DNA length; Lung cancer; Prognosis