Tracking and fixed ranking of leukocyte telomere length across the adult life course

Aging Cell

Athanase Benetos³  Jeremy D. Kark⁶  Ezra Susser⁵  Masayuki Kimura⁷  Ronit Sinnreich⁶  Wei Chen¹  Troels Steenstrup⁴  Kaare Christensen⁴  Utz Herbig²  Jacob von Bornemann Hjelmborg⁴  Sathanur R. Srinivasan¹  Gerald S. Berenson¹  Carlos Labat³ 

[1] Center for Cardiovascular Health, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA;Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA;Geriatric Service, Nancy University Hospital, Nancy, France;Epidemiology and Statistics Units, Institute of Public Health, Danish Twin Registry and Danish Aging Research Center, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark;Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA;The Hebrew University–Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel;The Center of Human Development and Aging, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA

关键词: human;    leukocytes;    longitudinal;    Southern blots;    telomeres;   

DOI  :  10.1111/acel.12086

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Summary

Short leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with atherosclerosis in adults and diminished survival in the elderly. LTL dynamics are defined by LTL at birth, which is highly variable, and its age-dependent attrition thereafter, which is rapid during the first 20 years of life. We examined whether age-dependent LTL attrition during adulthood can substantially affect individuals' LTL ranking (e.g., longer or shorter LTL) in relation to their peers. We measured LTL in samples donated 12 years apart on average by 1156 participants in four longitudinal studies. We observed correlations of 0.91–0.96 between baseline and follow-up LTLs. Ranking individuals by deciles revealed that 94.1% (95% confidence interval of 92.6–95.4%) showed no rank change or a 1 decile change over time. We conclude that in adults, LTL is virtually anchored to a given rank with the passage of time. Accordingly, the links of LTL with atherosclerosis and longevity appear to be established early in life. It is unlikely that lifestyle and its modification during adulthood exert a major impact on LTL ranking.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 The Authors. Aging Cell published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and the Anatomical Society.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.