Telomere fusion threshold identifies a poor prognostic subset of breast cancer patients
Open accessAbstract
Telomere dysfunction and fusion can drive genomic instability and clonal evolution in human tumours, including breast cancer. Telomere length is a critical determinant of telomere function and has been evaluated as a prognostic marker in several tumour types, but it has yet to be used in the clinical setting. Here we show that high‐resolution telomere length analysis, together with a specific telomere fusion threshold, is highly prognostic for overall survival in a cohort of patients diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast (n = 120). The telomere fusion threshold defined a small subset of patients with an extremely poor clinical outcome, with a median survival of less than 12 months (HR = 21.4 (7.9–57.6), P < 0.0001). Furthermore, this telomere length threshold was independent of ER, PGR, HER2 status, NPI, or grade and was the dominant variable in multivariate analysis. We conclude that the fusogenic telomere length threshold provides a powerful, independent prognostic marker with clinical utility in breast cancer. Larger prospective studies are now required to determine the optimal way to incorporate high‐resolution telomere length analysis into multivariate prognostic algorithms for patients diagnosed with breast cancer.
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In CLL and invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, overall survival is shorter when telomeres are in a size range expected to result in telomere fusions.
“In CLL and invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, overall survival is shorter when the telomeres are in a size range expected to result in telomere fusions151,152.”
From Telomeres in cancer: tumour suppression and genome instability (2017) · cites this paper as [152]
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Telomeres in cancer: tumour suppression and genome instability
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- Authors
- Simpson, K., Jones, R. E., Grimstead, J. W., Hills, R., Pepper, C., & Baird, D. M.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Baird, D.M.
- Venue
- Molecular Oncology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-02-25
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1186-1193
- ISSN
- 1574-7891 (ISSN-L)
- 1878-0261
- PMC
- PMC4449122
- OpenAlex
- W2108355069
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 5.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Molecular Oncology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Cancer Research UK (C17199/A13490)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Breast Cancer Treatment Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › BRCA gene mutations in cancer
- Keywords
- telomere length, telomere fusion, invasive ductal carcinoma, breast cancer, prognostic factors, overall survival, telomere dysfunction, genomic instability, clonal evolution
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Biomarkers, Tumor, Survival Rate, Telomere, Disease-Free Survival, Telomere Homeostasis
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