Sehl, Mary E.Henry, Jill E.Storniolo, Anna MariaHorvath, SteveGanz, Patricia A.2023-06-082023-06-082022-04-13Sehl ME, Henry JE, Storniolo AM, Horvath S, Ganz PA. The impact of reproductive factors on DNA methylation-based telomere length in healthy breast tissue. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2022;8(1):48. Published 2022 Apr 13. doi:10.1038/s41523-022-00410-4https://hdl.handle.net/1805/33543Estrogen promotes breast tissue proliferation and telomerase activation. We investigated the effects of reproductive history on cell cycling and telomere length using a DNA methylation-based estimate of telomere length (DNAmTL) in breast and blood from healthy women donors. We demonstrate that DNAmTL is shorter in breast than in blood, and that nulliparous women have longer age-adjusted DNAmTL in both breast and blood, potentially explaining their higher risk of breast cancer.en-USAttribution 4.0 InternationalBreast cancerEpigeneticsTelomerase activationArticle