2006 Early Career Investigator Grant Recipient — Kathryn Terry, ScD
Project Summary
Telomeres are repeated DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres shorten over time and ultimately signal cellular senescence. Telomere length has two potential roles in carcinogenesis: critically short telomeres can lead to genomic instability that may initiate tumor formation; and the maintenance of telomere length by telomerase allows cells to become immortalized.
Using stored specimens from a large ongoing population-based case-control study, we will examine whether risk of ovarian cancer is increased in women with shorter telomeres and whether risk is influenced by variation in telomere stability genes such as TERT, which encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase.