M Schürks1, J Buring, R Dushkes, J M Gaziano, R Y L Zee, T Kurth. 1. Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Telomere shortening has been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. However, available data on the association between telomere length and Parkinson's disease (PD) are inconclusive. METHODS: A nested case-control design was used amongst men participating in the prospective Physicians' Health Study. A large proportion of participants provided blood samples in 1997 and they were followed through 2010. Men with self-reported PD were age-matched to controls in a 1:2 ratio. Quantitative PCR was used to determine the telomere repeat copy number to single gene copy number ratio (TSR) in genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. TSR was used as a measure for relative telomere length (RTL) in our analyses. Conditional logistic regression was used to determine the risk of PD associated with RTL. RESULTS: Data on RTL were available from 408 cases and 809 controls. Median TSR was shorter in controls than in cases (47.7 vs. 50.2; P = 0.02). The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for PD was 0.66 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46-0.95; Ptrend over quartiles 0.02] comparing the lowest to the highest quartile. The pattern of association was unchanged when comparing RTL below versus above the median (age-adjusted OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.59-0.96). Associations were similar after additional adjustment for many covariates. CONCLUSION: Contrary to what was expected, in this large nested case-control study amongst men shorter telomeres were associated with reduced PD risk. Future research on the nature of this counterintuitive association is warranted.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Telomere shortening has been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. However, available data on the association between telomere length and Parkinson's disease (PD) are inconclusive. METHODS: A nested case-control design was used amongst men participating in the prospective Physicians' Health Study. A large proportion of participants provided blood samples in 1997 and they were followed through 2010. Men with self-reported PD were age-matched to controls in a 1:2 ratio. Quantitative PCR was used to determine the telomere repeat copy number to single gene copy number ratio (TSR) in genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. TSR was used as a measure for relative telomere length (RTL) in our analyses. Conditional logistic regression was used to determine the risk of PD associated with RTL. RESULTS: Data on RTL were available from 408 cases and 809 controls. Median TSR was shorter in controls than in cases (47.7 vs. 50.2; P = 0.02). The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for PD was 0.66 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46-0.95; Ptrend over quartiles 0.02] comparing the lowest to the highest quartile. The pattern of association was unchanged when comparing RTL below versus above the median (age-adjusted OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.59-0.96). Associations were similar after additional adjustment for many covariates. CONCLUSION: Contrary to what was expected, in this large nested case-control study amongst men shorter telomeres were associated with reduced PD risk. Future research on the nature of this counterintuitive association is warranted.
Authors: L A Panossian; V R Porter; H F Valenzuela; X Zhu; Erin Reback; D Masterman; J L Cummings; R B Effros Journal: Neurobiol Aging Date: 2003 Jan-Feb Impact factor: 4.673
Authors: K Kume; M Kikukawa; H Hanyu; Y Takata; T Umahara; H Sakurai; H Kanetaka; K Ohyashiki; J H Ohyashiki; T Iwamoto Journal: Eur J Neurol Date: 2012-01-31 Impact factor: 6.089
Authors: Sofie Bekaert; Tim De Meyer; Ernst R Rietzschel; Marc L De Buyzere; Dirk De Bacquer; Michel Langlois; Patrick Segers; Luc Cooman; Piet Van Damme; Peter Cassiman; Wim Van Criekinge; Pascal Verdonck; Guy G De Backer; Thierry C Gillebert; Patrick Van Oostveldt Journal: Aging Cell Date: 2007-10 Impact factor: 9.304
Authors: C H Hennekens; J E Buring; J E Manson; M Stampfer; B Rosner; N R Cook; C Belanger; F LaMotte; J M Gaziano; P M Ridker; W Willett; R Peto Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 1996-05-02 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Jane A Driver; Giancarlo Logroscino; Julie E Buring; J Michael Gaziano; Tobias Kurth Journal: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev Date: 2007-06 Impact factor: 4.254
Authors: Diego A Forero; Yeimy González-Giraldo; Catalina López-Quintero; Luis J Castro-Vega; George E Barreto; George Perry Journal: Exp Gerontol Date: 2016-01-07 Impact factor: 4.032
Authors: Astrid M Suchy-Dicey; Clemma J Muller; Tara M Madhyastha; Dean Shibata; Shelley A Cole; Jinying Zhao; W T Longstreth; Dedra Buchwald Journal: Am J Epidemiol Date: 2018-06-01 Impact factor: 4.897
Authors: Alessandro Castorina; Marta Anna Szychlinska; Rubina Marzagalli; Giuseppe Musumeci Journal: Neural Regen Res Date: 2015-06 Impact factor: 5.135
Authors: Annika Scheffold; Inge R Holtman; Sandra Dieni; Nieske Brouwer; Sarah-Fee Katz; Billy Michael Chelliah Jebaraj; Philipp J Kahle; Bastian Hengerer; André Lechel; Stephan Stilgenbauer; Erik W G M Boddeke; Bart J L Eggen; Karl-Lenhard Rudolph; Knut Biber Journal: Acta Neuropathol Commun Date: 2016-08-22 Impact factor: 7.801