Abstract
High-dose chemotherapy and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) may accelerate telomere length loss in haematopoietic stem cells. As data including pre-and post-treatment samples are lacking, we studied leukocyte telomere length and telomerase activity before and after treatment in breast cancer patients randomized to receive 5 adjuvant courses FEC (5-FU, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide) (n= 17), or 4 × FEC followed by high-dose cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, carboplatin and autologous PBSCT (n= 16). Haemoglobin, MCV, leukocyte-and platelet numbers were assessed prior to (t 0), 5 months after (t 1) and 9 months after chemotherapy (t 2); these parameters were decreased at t 1and t 2compared to t 0(high-dose: all parameters; standard-dose: leukocytes and platelets), and all parameters were lower after high-dose than standard-dose treatment at t 1. Paired individual leukocyte samples of t 0 and t 1showed telomere length change (determined by telomere restricted fragment (TRF) assay) ranging from +0.8 to –2.2 kb, with a decreased TRF length in 9 patients of both groups. Telomerase activity (determined by TRAP assay) was below detection limit in leukocyte samples of t 0 and t 1. Thus, standard-and high-dose chemotherapy negatively affect haematological reconstitution in this setting. In individual patients, telomere length can be remarkably changed following haematological proliferative stress after treatment. http://www.bjcancer.com © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign
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CP Schröder and GBA Wisman contributed equally to this work. This study was supported by grants RUG 96-1277 and 97-1581 of the Dutch Cancer Society.
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Schröder, C., Wisman, G., Jong, S. et al. Telomere length in breast cancer patients before and after chemotherapy with or without stem cell transplantation. Br J Cancer 84, 1348–1353 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1803
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1803
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