THORLNC and cancer: Moreover, as previously reported in other cancer types [22, 27], the correlation analysis revealed that THOR methylation (cg11625005) status is positively correlated to hTERT expression (P < 0.0001, r = 0.1626; Fig. 1D) in malignant breast tissue, which further suggests THOR as a mechanism involved in hTERT upregulation in BC.