Glioma, the most common central nervous system cancer in adults, has poor prognosis. Here we identify a new SNP associated with glioma risk, rs1920116 (near TERC), that reached genome-wide significance (Pcombined = 8.3 × 10(-9)) in a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of high-grade glioma and replication data (1,644 cases and 7,736 controls). This region has previously been associated with mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL). We therefore examined the relationship between LTL and both this new risk locus and other previously established risk loci for glioma using data from a recent GWAS of LTL (n = 37,684 individuals). Alleles associated with glioma risk near TERC and TERT were strongly associated with longer LTL (P = 5.5 × 10(-20) and 4.4 × 10(-19), respectively). In contrast, risk-associated alleles near RTEL1 were inconsistently associated with LTL, suggesting the presence of distinct causal alleles. No other risk loci for glioma were associated with LTL. The identification of risk alleles for glioma near TERC and TERT that also associate with telomere length implicates telomerase in gliomagenesis.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
3
2%
Other
10
6%
Unknown
41
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Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 102. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 14 October 2025.
All research outputs
#513,699
of 33,054,915 outputs
Outputs from Nature Genetics
#929
of 8,602 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#3,747
of 267,359 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Genetics
#10
of 62 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,054,915 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 8,602 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 44.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 267,359 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 62 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
