Discriminating association of a common telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter polymorphism with telomere parameters in non-small cell lung cancer with or without epidermal growth factor receptor mutation.

•T/C allele is significantly associated with telomere parameters in patients without epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation.•T/C allele is significantly associated with shorter overall survival in patients without EGFR mutation.•Investigation of telomerase reverse transcriptase-EGFR interacting mechanism in telomere biology need to be focussed in future research.