BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence implicates leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening as a potential risk predictor for cardiovascular disease. Arterial stiffness chronicles the cumulative burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Therefore, the capacity of LTL to predict arterial stiffness was examined. METHODS: A total of 275 unrelated Chinese males: 163 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 112 healthy controls, 40-73 years of age were included in this study. The relative telomere length of leukocytes was determined by a real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Large artery stiffness was measured with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). RESULTS: The relative telomere length (T/S) ratio was significantly shorter in patients with CAD (0.79 +/- 0.26) than in control subjects (1.08 +/- 0.22) (p<0.001). The correlation between LTL and PWV in patients with CAD was stronger than that in the controls (r= -0.467, r(2)=0.227, p<0.001 for patients with CAD versus r= -0.223; r(2)=0.050; p=0.018 for controls). The log(e)-transformed T/S ratio was inversely correlated with age (r= -0.345; p<0.001), PWV (r= -0.326; p<0.001) and C-reactive protein ( r= -0.133; p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: The data show an association of leukocyte telomere length shortening with increased arterial stiffness and cardiovascular burden, suggesting that telomere length is a biomarker of large artery elasticity and CAD. Further studies are warranted to study the role of LTL dynamics in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence implicates leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening as a potential risk predictor for cardiovascular disease. Arterial stiffness chronicles the cumulative burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Therefore, the capacity of LTL to predict arterial stiffness was examined. METHODS: A total of 275 unrelated Chinese males: 163 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 112 healthy controls, 40-73 years of age were included in this study. The relative telomere length of leukocytes was determined by a real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Large artery stiffness was measured with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). RESULTS: The relative telomere length (T/S) ratio was significantly shorter in patients with CAD (0.79 +/- 0.26) than in control subjects (1.08 +/- 0.22) (p<0.001). The correlation between LTL and PWV in patients with CAD was stronger than that in the controls (r= -0.467, r(2)=0.227, p<0.001 for patients with CAD versus r= -0.223; r(2)=0.050; p=0.018 for controls). The log(e)-transformed T/S ratio was inversely correlated with age (r= -0.345; p<0.001), PWV (r= -0.326; p<0.001) and C-reactive protein ( r= -0.133; p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: The data show an association of leukocyte telomere length shortening with increased arterial stiffness and cardiovascular burden, suggesting that telomere length is a biomarker of large artery elasticity and CAD. Further studies are warranted to study the role of LTL dynamics in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Authors: Richa Saxena; Andrew Bjonnes; Jennifer Prescott; Patrick Dib; Praveen Natt; Jacqueline Lane; Megan Lerner; Jackie A Cooper; Yuanqing Ye; Ka Wah Li; Cécilia G Maubaret; Veryan Codd; Daniel Brackett; Lisa Mirabello; Peter Kraft; Colin P Dinney; Donald Stowell; Marvin Peyton; Sarju Ralhan; Gurpreet S Wander; Narinder K Mehra; Klelia D Salpea; Jian Gu; Xifeng Wu; Massimo Mangino; David J Hunter; Immaculata De Vivo; Steve E Humphries; Nilesh J Samani; Tim D Spector; Sharon A Savage; Dharambir K Sanghera Journal: Circ Cardiovasc Genet Date: 2014-05-03
Authors: Alison L Harte; Nancy F da Silva; Michelle A Miller; Francesco P Cappuccio; Ann Kelly; Joseph P O'Hare; Anthony H Barnett; Nasser M Al-Daghri; Omar Al-Attas; Majed Alokail; Shaun Sabico; Gyanendra Tripathi; Srikanth Bellary; Sudhesh Kumar; Philip G McTernan Journal: Exp Diabetes Res Date: 2012-03-01
Authors: Simon L I J Denil; Ernst R Rietzschel; Marc L De Buyzere; Caroline M Van Daele; Patrick Segers; Dirk De Bacquer; Wim Van Criekinge; Sofie Bekaert; Thierry C Gillebert; Tim De Meyer Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-12-15 Impact factor: 3.240