RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Leucocyte telomere length, genetic variants at the TERT gene region and risk of pancreatic cancer JF Gut JO Gut FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Society of Gastroenterology SP 1116 OP 1122 DO 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312510 VO 66 IS 6 A1 Ying Bao A1 Jennifer Prescott A1 Chen Yuan A1 Mingfeng Zhang A1 Peter Kraft A1 Ana Babic A1 Vicente Morales-Oyarvide A1 Zhi Rong Qian A1 Julie E Buring A1 Barbara B Cochrane A1 J Michael Gaziano A1 Edward L Giovannucci A1 JoAnn E Manson A1 Kimmie Ng A1 Shuji Ogino A1 Thomas E Rohan A1 Howard D Sesso A1 Meir J Stampfer A1 Charles S Fuchs A1 Immaculata De Vivo A1 Laufey T Amundadottir A1 Brian M Wolpin YR 2017 UL http://gut.bmj.com/content/66/6/1116.abstract AB Objective Telomere shortening occurs as an early event in pancreatic tumorigenesis, and genetic variants at the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene region have been associated with pancreatic cancer risk. However, it is unknown whether prediagnostic leucocyte telomere length is associated with subsequent risk of pancreatic cancer.Design We measured prediagnostic leucocyte telomere length in 386 pancreatic cancer cases and 896 matched controls from five prospective US cohorts. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated using conditional logistic regression. Matching factors included year of birth, cohort (which also matches on sex), smoking status, fasting status and month/year of blood collection. We additionally examined single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the TERT region in relation to pancreatic cancer risk and leucocyte telomere length using logistic and linear regression, respectively.Results Shorter prediagnostic leucocyte telomere length was associated with higher risk of pancreatic cancer (comparing extreme quintiles of telomere length, OR 1.72; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.78; ptrend=0.048). Results remained unchanged after adjustment for diabetes, body mass index and physical activity. Three SNPs at TERT (linkage disequilibrium r2<0.25) were associated with pancreatic cancer risk, including rs401681 (per minor allele OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.12 to 1.59; p=0.002), rs2736100 (per minor allele OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.63; p=0.001) and rs2736098 (per minor allele OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.63 to 0.90; p=0.002). The minor allele for rs401681 was associated with shorter telomere length (p=0.023).Conclusions Prediagnostic leucocyte telomere length and genetic variants at the TERT gene region were associated with risk of pancreatic cancer.