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Biomedicines
Volume 13
Issue 12
10.3390/biomedicines13123009
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Review

Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies

by
Corrado Tarella
1,2,*,
Dario Ferrero
2,3,
Maria Beatriz Herrera Sanchez
4,5,
Alessia Rita Canestrale
4,
Sharad Kholia
4,
Lorenzo Silengo
4,
Enrico Derenzini
1,6 and
Irene Ricca
2,7
1
Oncohematology Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy
2
Telomere Research Unit at Molecular Biotechnology Center, 10126 Turin, Italy
3
Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Turin, Italy
4
Molecular Biotechnology Center, University of Torino, 10126 Turin, Italy
5
2i3T, Società per la Gestione dell’incubatore di Imprese e per il Trasferimento Tecnologico, University of Torino, 10126 Turin, Italy
6
Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
7
Expert Center for Congenital Hemorrhagic Disease (CHD) in Pediatrics and Pregnant Women—Transfusion Medicine, University Hospital of the City of Health and Science of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biomedicines 2025, 13(12), 3009; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123009
Submission received: 21 August 2025 / Revised: 16 November 2025 / Accepted: 25 November 2025 / Published: 8 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Telomere and Telomerase in Human Disease—2nd Edition)
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

Proper telomere maintenance is crucial for ensuring healthy cellular function. Telomeres have a tendency to reduce in length with cellular aging. Moreover several factors may promote telomere attrition. Other conditions, primarily due to genetic and inherited origins, can be characterized by unusually long telomeres. Both shortening and elongation of telomere length (TL) may lead to increased risk of cancer occurrence or cancer progression. Additionally, some hematopoietic dysfunctions may also be associated with telomere abnormalities. This review is aimed to describe and discuss main aspects of TL, in relation to carcinogenesis. The initial section describes main current methods for TL assessment, since the accurate and reliable TL measurements is a crucial issue in TL research. The various studies describing the association between TL and cancer risk are then reported and critically illustrated, with special interest on TL shortening in hematological malignancies, as well as in some peculiar non-malignant dysfunctions. Hence, a systematic analysis of the broad contribution of TL to cancer development is extensively appraised.
Keywords: telomere; telomerase; telomere length measurement; non-hematologic cancers; bone marrow failure; hematological malignancies telomere; telomerase; telomere length measurement; non-hematologic cancers; bone marrow failure; hematological malignancies

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tarella, C.; Ferrero, D.; Herrera Sanchez, M.B.; Canestrale, A.R.; Kholia, S.; Silengo, L.; Derenzini, E.; Ricca, I. Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies. Biomedicines 2025, 13, 3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123009

AMA Style

Tarella C, Ferrero D, Herrera Sanchez MB, Canestrale AR, Kholia S, Silengo L, Derenzini E, Ricca I. Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies. Biomedicines. 2025; 13(12):3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123009

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tarella, Corrado, Dario Ferrero, Maria Beatriz Herrera Sanchez, Alessia Rita Canestrale, Sharad Kholia, Lorenzo Silengo, Enrico Derenzini, and Irene Ricca. 2025. "Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies" Biomedicines 13, no. 12: 3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123009

APA Style

Tarella, C., Ferrero, D., Herrera Sanchez, M. B., Canestrale, A. R., Kholia, S., Silengo, L., Derenzini, E., & Ricca, I. (2025). Telomere Length Abnormality: Investigating Approaches and Correlations with Cancer, Bone Marrow Failure and Hematological Malignancies. Biomedicines, 13(12), 3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123009

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