Scientists developed a better way to measure telomere length in cancer cells. Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that get shorter as cells age or become damaged. Measuring telomeres helps researchers understand cancer, but traditional tests often give inaccurate results in cancer DNA because cancer cells have abnormal chromosome numbers. To fix this, the team created a new test using special DNA markers called “multiple-copy sequences” instead of the usual single-copy genes. They tested this improved method on DNA from cancer patients and healthy donors, including samples from the Komen Tissue Bank.
The new method gave results that closely matched the gold-standard test, even for difficult cancer samples. It was especially good at spotting shorter telomeres in more aggressive breast cancers compared to earlier-stage tumors. This matters because shorter telomeres are linked to cancer progression. The test is also faster, cheaper, and needs less DNA than older methods. This makes it a useful tool for large research studies and could help create simpler, less invasive ways to study and possibly diagnose cancer in the future.
