Telomere length and cardiovascular risk factors in a middle‐aged population free of overt cardiovascular disease
Sofie Bekaert,Tim De Meyer,Ernst Rietzschel,Marc De Buyzere,Dirk De Bacquer,Michel Langlois,Patrick Segers,Luc Cooman,Piet Van Damme,Peter Cassiman,Wim Van Criekinge,Pascal Verdonck,Guy De Backer,Thierry C. Gillebert,Patrick Van Oostveldt +14 more
TLDR
It is shown that TL of peripheral blood leukocytes primarily reflects the burden of increased oxidative stress and inflammation, whether or not determined by an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle, while the association with classical CVD risk factors is limited.Abstract:
Evidence assembled over the last decade shows that average telomere length (TL) acts as a biomarker for biological aging and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in particular. Although essential for a more profound understanding of the underlying mechanisms, little reference information is available on TL. We therefore sought to provide baseline TL information and assess the association of prevalent CVD risk factors with TL in subjects free of overt CVD within a small age range. We measured mean telomere restriction fragment length of peripheral blood leukocytes in a large, representative Asklepios study cohort of 2509 community-dwelling, Caucasian female and male volunteers aged approximately 35-55 years and free of overt CVD. We found a manifest age-dependent telomere attrition, at a significantly faster rate in men as compared to women. No significant associations were established with classical CVD risk factors such as cholesterol status and blood pressure, yet shorter TL was associated with increased levels of several inflammation and oxidative stress markers. Importantly, shorter telomere length was associated with an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle, particularly in men. All findings were age and gender adjusted where appropriate. With these cross-sectional results we show that TL of peripheral blood leukocytes primarily reflects the burden of increased oxidative stress and inflammation, whether or not determined by an increasingly unhealthy lifestyle, while the association with classical CVD risk factors is limited. This further clarifies the added value of TL as a biomarker for biological aging and might improve our understanding of how TL is associated with CVD.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Identification of seven loci affecting mean telomere length and their association with disease
Veryan Codd,Christopher P. Nelson,Eva Albrecht,Massimo Mangino,Joris Deelen,Jessica L. Buxton,Jouke-Jan Hottenga,Krista Fischer,Tõnu Esko,Ida Surakka,Linda Broer,Dale R. Nyholt,Irene Mateo Leach,Perttu Salo,Sara Hägg,Mary K. Matthews,Jutta Palmen,Giuseppe Danilo Norata,Paul F. O'Reilly,Danish Saleheen,Najaf Amin,Anthony J. Balmforth,Marian Beekman,Rudolf A. de Boer,Stefan Böhringer,Peter S. Braund,Paul Burton,Anton J. M. de Craen,Matthew Denniff,Yanbin Dong,Konstantinos Douroudis,Elena Dubinina,Johan G. Eriksson,Katia Garlaschelli,Dehuang Guo,Anna-Liisa Hartikainen,Anjali K. Henders,Jeanine J. Houwing-Duistermaat,Laura Kananen,Lennart C. Karssen,Johannes Kettunen,Norman Klopp,Vasiliki Lagou,Elisabeth M. van Leeuwen,Pamela A. F. Madden,Reedik Mägi,Patrik K. E. Magnusson,Satu Männistö,Satu Männistö,Mark I. McCarthy,Mark I. McCarthy,Mark I. McCarthy,Sarah E. Medland,Evelin Mihailov,Grant W. Montgomery,Ben A. Oostra,Aarno Palotie,Annette Peters,Helen Pollard,Anneli Pouta,Anneli Pouta,Inga Prokopenko,Samuli Ripatti,Veikko Salomaa,Veikko Salomaa,H. Eka D. Suchiman,Ana M. Valdes,Niek Verweij,Ana Viñuela,Xiaoling Wang,Xiaoling Wang,H-Erich Wichmann,Elisabeth Widen,Gonneke Willemsen,Margaret J. Wright,Kai Xia,Xiangjun Xiao,Dirk J. van Veldhuisen,Alberico L. Catapano,Martin D. Tobin,Alistair S. Hall,Alexandra I. F. Blakemore,Wiek H. van Gilst,Haidong Zhu,Haidong Zhu,Jeanette Erdmann,Muredach P. Reilly,Sekar Kathiresan,Sekar Kathiresan,Heribert Schunkert,Philippa J. Talmud,Nancy L. Pedersen,Markus Perola,Markus Perola,Markus Perola,Willem H. Ouwehand,Jaakko Kaprio,Nicholas G. Martin,Cornelia M. van Duijn,Iiris Hovatta,Iiris Hovatta,Christian Gieger,Andres Metspalu,Dorret I. Boomsma,Marjo-Riitta Järvelin,P. Eline Slagboom,John R Thompson,Tim D. Spector,Pim van der Harst,Nilesh J. Samani,Nilesh J. Samani +110 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a genome-wide meta-analysis of 37,684 individuals with replication of selected variants in an additional 10,739 individuals was carried out to identify seven loci, including five new loci associated with mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL) (P < 5 × 10−8).
Identification of seven loci affecting mean telomere length and their association with disease
Veryan Codd,Christopher P. Nelson,Eva Albrecht,Massimo Mangino,Joris Deelen,Jessica L. Buxton,Jouke-Jan Hottenga,Krista Fischer,Tõnu Esko,Ida Surakka,Linda Broer,Dale R. Nyholt,Irene Mateo Leach,Perttu Salo,Sara Hägg,Mary K. Matthews,Jutta Palmen,Giuseppe Danilo Norata,Paul F. O'Reilly,Danish Saleheen,Najaf Amin,Anthony J. Balmforth,Marian Beekman,Rudolf A. de Boer,Stefan Böhringer,Peter S. Braund,Paul Burton,Anton J. M. de Craen,Matthew Denniff,Yanbin Dong,Konstantinos Douroudis,Elena Dubinina,Johan G. Eriksson,Katia Garlaschelli,Dehuang Guo,Anna-Liisa Hartikainen,Anjali K. Henders,Jeanine J. Houwing-Duistermaat,Laura Kananen,Lennart C. Karssen,Johannes Kettunen,Norman Klopp,Vasiliki Lagou,Elisabeth M. van Leeuwen,Pamela A. F. Madden,Reedik Maegi,Patrik K. E. Magnusson,Satu Männistö,Mark I. McCarthy,Sarah E. Medland,Evelin Mihailov,Grant W. Montgomery,Ben A. Oostra,Aarno Palotie,Annette Peters,Helen Pollard,Anneli Pouta,Inga Prokopenko,Samuli Ripatti,Veikko Salomaa,H. Eka D. Suchiman,Ana M. Valdes,Niek Verweij,Ana Viñuela,Xiaoling Wang,H-Erich Wichmann,Elisabeth Widen,Gonneke Willemsen,Margaret J. Wright,Kai Xia,Xiangjun Xiao,Dirk J. van Veldhuisen,Alberico L. Catapano,Martin D. Tobin,Alistair S. Hall,Alexandra I. F. Blakemore,Wiek H. van Gilst,Haidong Zhu,Jeanette Erdmann,Muredach P. Reilly,Sekar Kathiresan,Heribert Schunkert,Philippa J. Talmud,Nancy L. Pedersen,Markus Perola,Willem H. Ouwehand,Jaakko Kaprio,Nicholas G. Martin,Cornelia M. van Duijn,Iris Hovatta,Christian Gieger,Andres Metspalu,Dorret I. Boomsma,Marjo-Riitta Järvelin,P. Eline Slagboom,John R Thompson,Tim D. Spector,Pim van der Harst,Nilesh J. Samani +98 more
TL;DR: In this article, a genome-wide meta-analysis of 37,684 individuals with replication of selected variants in an additional 10,739 individuals was carried out to identify seven loci, including five new loci associated with mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL).
Journal ArticleDOI
Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither?
Jason L. Sanders,Anne B. Newman +1 more
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal.
Journal ArticleDOI
Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study
Dean Ornish,Jue Lin,Jennifer Daubenmier,Gerdi Weidner,Elissa S. Epel,Colleen Kemp,Mark Jesus M. Magbanua,Ruth Marlin,Loren Yglecias,Peter R. Carroll,Elizabeth H. Blackburn +10 more
TL;DR: Comprehensive lifestyle changes significantly increase telomerase activity and consequently telomere maintenance capacity in human immune-system cells, and this is reported as a significant association rather than inferring causation.
Journal ArticleDOI
A quantitative PCR method for measuring absolute telomere length
TL;DR: This method is based on the Cawthon method for relative measurement of telomere length (TL) but modified by introducing an oligomer standard to measure aTL, making it amenable for molecular epidemiological studies.
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