TY - JOUR
T1 - Racial differences in maternal and umbilical cord blood leukocyte telomere length and their correlations
AU - Weber, Kari A.
AU - Heaphy, Christopher M.
AU - Joshu, Corinne E.
AU - Lu, Jiayun
AU - Rohrmann, Sabine
AU - Bienstock, Jessica L.
AU - Agurs-Collins, Tanya
AU - Meeker, Alan K.
AU - Platz, Elizabeth A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership grant (U54 CA091409), and a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support grant (P30 CA006973). Dr. Weber was supported by a National Cancer Institute Institutional National Cancer Research Service Award (T32 CA0093140) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology Doctoral Research Fund. Dr. Joshu was supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The content of this work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This work was supported by a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership grant (U54 CA091409), and a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support grant (P30 CA006973). Dr. Weber was supported by a National Cancer Institute Institutional National Cancer Research Service Award (T32 CA0093140) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomb-erg School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology Doctoral Research Fund. Dr. Joshu was supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The content of this work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Purpose: Telomere length at birth sets the baseline for telomere shortening and may influence adult disease risk like cancer. Telomere length is heritable, but may also be a marker of exposures in utero, including those influencing racial differences in risk. We examined racial differences in telomere length in maternal and umbilical cord blood from male neonates, and maternal–neonate correlations to generate hypotheses. Methods: Black and white pregnant women were recruited in 2006–2007 and followed to postpartum. Data came from questionnaires and medical records. Relative telomere length was measured by qPCR in leukocyte DNA. We estimated mean telomere length in mothers and neonates (n = 55 pairs) using linear regression and maternal–cord blood Spearman correlations, overall and by race. Results: Black mothers had shorter age- and plate-adjusted telomere length (2.49, 95% CI 2.11–2.86) than whites (2.92, 95% CI 2.63–3.22; p = 0.1) and black neonates had shorter telomere length (2.58, 95% CI 2.16–3.01) than whites (3.13, 95% CI 2.79–3.47; p = 0.1), though not statistically significant. Differences were attenuated after further adjustment for maternal factors. Maternal–cord blood correlations were moderate (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001), and did not differ by race. Conclusion: Telomere length may differ by race at birth due to both inherited and racial differences in maternal factors. This study was for hypothesis generation and results should be followed up in larger studies.
AB - Purpose: Telomere length at birth sets the baseline for telomere shortening and may influence adult disease risk like cancer. Telomere length is heritable, but may also be a marker of exposures in utero, including those influencing racial differences in risk. We examined racial differences in telomere length in maternal and umbilical cord blood from male neonates, and maternal–neonate correlations to generate hypotheses. Methods: Black and white pregnant women were recruited in 2006–2007 and followed to postpartum. Data came from questionnaires and medical records. Relative telomere length was measured by qPCR in leukocyte DNA. We estimated mean telomere length in mothers and neonates (n = 55 pairs) using linear regression and maternal–cord blood Spearman correlations, overall and by race. Results: Black mothers had shorter age- and plate-adjusted telomere length (2.49, 95% CI 2.11–2.86) than whites (2.92, 95% CI 2.63–3.22; p = 0.1) and black neonates had shorter telomere length (2.58, 95% CI 2.16–3.01) than whites (3.13, 95% CI 2.79–3.47; p = 0.1), though not statistically significant. Differences were attenuated after further adjustment for maternal factors. Maternal–cord blood correlations were moderate (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001), and did not differ by race. Conclusion: Telomere length may differ by race at birth due to both inherited and racial differences in maternal factors. This study was for hypothesis generation and results should be followed up in larger studies.
KW - Cord blood
KW - Maternal
KW - Race
KW - Telomeres
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U2 - 10.1007/s10552-018-1054-8
DO - 10.1007/s10552-018-1054-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 29980985
AN - SCOPUS:85049567497
VL - 29
SP - 759
EP - 767
JO - Cancer Causes and Control
JF - Cancer Causes and Control
SN - 0957-5243
IS - 8
ER -