Telomere shortening in leukocyte subpopulations in depression

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Detlef E Dietrich¹  Alexander Karabatsiakis²  Iris-Tatjana Kolassa²  K Lenhard Rudolph³  Stephan Kolassa⁴ 

[1] Burghof-Klinik, Rinteln, Germany;Clinic for Mental Health, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany;Clinical & Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany;Leibniz Institute for Age Research, Fritz Lipman Institute, Jena, Germany;SAP Switzerland, Tägerwilen, Switzerland;

关键词: Depression;    Telomere shortening;    Aging;    Stress;    Immunosenescence;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-14-192

 received in 2014-02-03, accepted in 2014-06-30,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTelomere shortening is a normal age-related process. However, premature shortening of telomeres in leukocytes – as has been reported in depression – may increase the risk for age-related diseases. While previous studies investigated telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as a whole, this study investigated specific changes in the clonal composition of white blood cells of the adaptive immune system (CD4+ helper and CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and CD20+ B lymphocytes).MethodsForty-four females with a history of unipolar depression were investigated and compared to fifty age-matched female controls. Telomere lengths were compared between three groups: 1) individuals with a history of depression but currently no clinically relevant depressive symptoms, 2) individuals with a history of depression with relevant symptoms of depression, and 3) healthy age-matched controls. Telomere length was assessed using quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (qFISH).ResultsBoth groups with a history of unipolar depression (with and without current depressive symptoms) showed significantly shorter telomeres in all three lymphocyte subpopulations. The effect was stronger in CD8+ and CD20+ cells than in CD4+ cells. Individuals with a history of depression and with (without) current symptoms exhibited a CD8+ telomere length shortening corresponding to an age differential of 27.9 (25.3) years.ConclusionsA history of depression is associated with shortened telomeres in the main effector populations of the adaptive immune system. Shorter telomeres seem to persist in individuals with lifetime depression independently of the severity of depressive symptoms. CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and CD20+ B cells seem to be particularly affected in depression. The total number of depressive episodes did not influence telomere length in the investigated adaptive immune cell populations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Karabatsiakis et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014