Variation in ribosomal DNA copy number is associated with lung cancer risk in a prospective cohort study

Disruption of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) has been linked to a variety of diseases in humans, including carcinogenesis. To evaluate the associations between rDNA copy number (CN) and risk of lung cancer, we measured 5.8S and 18S rDNA CN in the peripheral blood of 229 incident lung cancer cases and 1:1 matched controls from a nested case–control study within a prospective cohort of male smokers. There was a dose–response relationship between quartiles...