Telomere length, oxidative stress, and antioxidant status in elderly men in Zutphen and Crete

Leukocyte telomere length independently predicts hyperuricemia risk in a longitudinal study of the Chinese population

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been correlated with uric acid levels, although results are inconsistent, and prospective studies are lacking. In this longitudinal, prospective cohort study, we aimed to assess whether a shorter LTL predicts the risk of hyperuricemia.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We conducted a longitudinal study in a Chinese cohort of 599 participants. Of these, 266 participants completed a 5.9-year follow-up from June 2014 to December 2021. LTL was assessed at baseline using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Hyperuricemia was defined as serum uric acid ≥420 mmol/L according to Chinese guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of hyperuricemia and gout. Participants who had developed hyperuricemia during follow-up (n = 17) had shorter LTL at baseline. Baseline LTL was independently associated with the development of hyperuricemia at follow-up after adjusting for conventional hyperuricemia risk factors (odds ratio [OR] 2.347 [95% confidence interval [CI] 1.123, 4.906]; P = 0.023). After grouping according to LTL tertiles, the incidence of hyperuricemia was 18.334-fold higher for the first than for the third tertile (OR 18.334 [95%CI 1.786, 191.272]; P = 0.014, P for trend = 0.050).

CONCLUSION

Our findings in a prospective cohort suggest that LTL could predict hyperuricemia risk, which might inform the timely prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia.

Diet and Aging: The Role of Polyphenol-Rich Diets in Slow Down the Shortening of Telomeres: A Review

The ends of human chromosomes are defended by DNA-protein complexes named telomeres, which inhibit the chromosomes from fusing with each other and from being known as a double-strand break by DNA reparation proteins. Telomere length is a marker of biological aging, and disfunction of telomeres is related to age-related syndromes. Telomere attrition has been shown to be accelerated by oxidative stress and inflammation. Telomere length has been proven to be positively linked with nutritional status in human and animal scientific research as several nutrients influence it through mechanisms that imitate their function in cellular roles including oxidative stress and inflammation. Data reported in this article support the idea that following a low-in-fat and rich-plant polyphenols food diet seems to be able to slow down the shortening of telomeres.

Does oxidative stress shorten telomeres in vivo? A meta-analysis

Telomere attrition is considered a hallmark of ageing. Untangling the proximate causes of telomere attrition may therefore reveal important aspects about the ageing process. In a landmark paper in 2002 Thomas von Zglinicki demonstrated that oxidative stress accelerates telomere attrition in cell culture. In the next 20 years, oxidative stress became firmly embedded into modern theories of ageing and telomere attrition. However, a recent surge of in vivo studies reveals an inconsistent pattern questioning the unequivocal role of oxidative stress in telomere length and telomere attrition (henceforth referred to as telomere dynamics), in living organisms. Here we report the results of the first formal meta-analysis on the association between oxidative stress and telomere dynamics in vivo, representing 37 studies, 4969 individuals, and 18,677 correlational measurements. The overall correlation between oxidative stress markers and telomere dynamics was indistinguishable from zero (r = 0.027). This result was independent of the type of oxidative stress marker, telomere dynamic, or taxonomic group. However, telomere measurement method affected the analysis and the subset of TRF-based studies showed a significant overall correlation (r = 0.09), supporting the prediction that oxidative stress accelerates telomere attrition. The correlation was more pronounced in short-lived species and during the adult life phase, when ageing becomes apparent. We then performed an additional meta-analysis of interventional studies (n = 7) manipulating oxidative stress. This revealed a significant effect of treatment on telomere dynamics (d=0.36). Our findings provide new support for the hypothesis that oxidative stress causes telomere attrition in living organisms.

Effects of dietary interventions on telomere dynamics

Telomeres play a critical role in maintaining cellular fate through tight regulation of cell division and DNA damage or repair. Over the years, it is established that biological ageing is defined by a gradual derangement in functionality, productivity, and robustness of biological processes. The link between telomeres and ageing is highlighted when derangement in telomere biology often leads to premature ageing and concomitant accompaniment of numerous age-associated diseases. Unfortunately, given that ageing is a biologically complicated intricacy, measures to reduce morbidity and improve longevity are still largely in the infancy stage. Recently, it was discovered that dietary habits and interventions might play a role in promoting successful healthy ageing. The intricate relationship between dietary components and its potential to protect the integrity of telomeres may provide unprecedented health benefits and protection against age-related pathologies. However, more focused prospective and follow-up studies with and without interventions are needed to unequivocally link dietary interventions with telomere maintenance in humans. This review aims to summarise recent findings that investigate the roles of nutrition on telomere biology and provide enough evidence for further studies to consider the topic of nutrigenomics and its contributions toward healthy ageing and concomitant strategy against age-associated diseases.

Telomere length in leucocytes and solid tissues of young and aged rats

Background: Telomeres are protective nucleoprotein structures at the end of chromosomes that shorten with age. Telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has been proposed as surrogate marker for TL in the entire organism. Solid evidence that supports this concept is lacking.

Methods: Relative TL (RTL) was measured in PBMCS and multiple solid tissues from 24 young (4 months) and 24 aged (14 months) Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The mRNA expression of telomerase (TERT) and shelterin proteins TERF-1 and TERF-2 was also measured.

Results: Mean RTL in PBMCs and solid tissues of young rats ranged from 0.64 ± 0.26 in large intestine to 1.07 ± 0.22 in skeletal muscle. RTL in PBMCs correlated with that in kidney (r = 0.315, p = 0.008), skeletal muscle (r = 0.276, p = 0.022), liver (r = 0.269, p = 0.033), large intestine (r = −0.463, p = 7.035E-5) and aorta (r = −0.273, p = 0.028). A significant difference of RTL between young and aged animals was only observed in aorta (0.98 ± 0.15 vs. 0.76 ± 0.11, p = 1.987E-6), lung (0.76 ± 0.14 vs. 0.85 ± 0.14, p = 0.024) and visceral fat (0.83 ± 0.14 vs. 0.92 ± 0.15, p = 0.44). The expression of TERT significantly differed between the tested organs with highest levels in liver and kidney. Age-related differences in TERT expression were found in PBMCs, skeletal muscle, and visceral fat. mRNA expression of TERF-1 and TERF-2 was tissue-specific with the highest levels in liver. Age-related differences in TERF-1 and TERF-2 expression were inconsistent.

Conclusions: The present study questions the utility of RTL in PBMCs as a biomarker for the individual assessment of aging.

The Association between Dietary Magnesium Intake and Telomere Length in Adults with Hypertension

BACKGROUND

Dietary micronutrients are significantly associated with telomere length, as shown in multiple studies. However, no study has investigated the association between magnesium intake and telomere length in adults with hypertension.

METHODS

Participants were included from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. Dietary magnesium intake was assessed using the 24 - hour recall method and the telomere length of leukocytes was measured using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A multivariate regression model was then used to assess the association between dietary magnesium intake and telomere length in adults with hypertension.

RESULTS

Our final analysis included 2199 hypertensive adults (46.79% males) with a mean dietary magnesium intake of 254.82±133.47 mg/day. Linear regression, adjusted for race, sex, age, smoking, uric acid, and other variables, showed that every 1 mg increase in dietary magnesium intake was associated with a 0.20 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.39, p = 0.043) longer telomere length in all participants. In the ≥45 years age group, there was a statistically significant association between the telomere length and dietary magnesium (95% CI: 0.16, 0.63, p <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that increased magnesium intake is associated with a longer telomere length in hypertensive adults, especially in those ≥45 years of age. However, further research is needed to determine a causal relationship.

Sex-Specific Association of Serum Anti-Oxidative Capacity and Leukocyte Telomere Length

Telomeres are a crucial factor in the preservation of genomic integrity, and an elevated risk for diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular events is related to shortened telomeres. However, telomere deterioration could be caused by factors such as chronic oxidative stress and inflammation, which are promoted by an imbalance among reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relationship between telomeres and oxidative stress. The serum leucocyte telomer length (LTL), serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and the total serum lipid panel of 180 healthy athletic volunteers (90 males, 90 females) were measured Additionally, a questionnaire about sports behaviour and the type of training was completed. We observed a positive significant relation between serum LTL and TAC in the male group (cc = 3.4/p = 0.001) but not in females. There was no statistically significant correlation between age and physical activity and LTL in both groups. This is the first cross sectional study demonstrating an association between total serum TAC and LTL in healthy males, but interestingly, not in the females. Nevertheless, these results should be interpreted as preliminary, and further studies in independent cohorts are needed to investigate the sex-specific effects of oxidative stress on telomere length and telomerase activity.

Trends in Natural Nutrients for Oxidative Stress and Cell Senescence

Due to the increase in the aged population and increased life expectancy, the underlying mechanisms involved in the aging process and cell senescence and the ways for modulating these processes in age-related diseases become important. One of the main mechanisms involved in aging and cell senescence, especially in the diseases related to aging, is the oxidative stress process and the following inflammation. Hence, the effects of antioxidants are highlighted in the literature due to their beneficial impacts on inhibiting telomere shortening or DNA damage and other processes related to aging and cell senescence in age-related diseases. Dietary components, foods, and dietary patterns rich in antioxidants can modulate the aging process and delay the progression of some chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. Foods high in polyphenols, vitamin C, or carotenoids, olive oil, seeds, nuts, legumes, dietary supplements such as CoQ10, and some other dietary factors are the most important nutritional sources that have high antioxidant contents which can positively affect cell senescence and disease progression. Plant dietary patterns including Mediterranean diets can also inhibit telomere shortening following oxidative damages, and this can delay cell aging and senescence in age-related diseases. Further, olive oil can inhibit protein aggregation in Alzheimer's disease. It can be concluded that nutrition can delay the process of cell senescence in age-related diseases via inhibiting oxidative and inflammatory pathways. However, more studies are needed to better clarify the underlying mechanisms of nutrition and dietary components on cell senescence, aging, and disease progression, especially those related to age.

Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase, a marker of alcohol intake, is associated with telomere length and cardiometabolic risk in young adulthood

Studies based on self-reported alcohol consumption and telomere length show inconsistent results. Therefore, we studied the association between gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), a widely used biomarker of alcohol intake, and telomere length. The possible health relevance in young adulthood was explored by investigating cardiometabolic risk factors. Mixed modelling was performed to examine GGT and alcohol consumption in association with telomere length in buccal cells of 211 adults between 18 and 30 years old of the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. In addition, we investigated the association between GGT and cardiometabolic risk factors; waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Although we did not observe an association between self-reported alcohol consumption and telomere length, our results show that a doubling in serum GGT is associated with 7.80% (95% CI − 13.9 to − 1.2%; p = 0.02) shorter buccal telomeres, independently from sex, chronological age, educational level, zygosity and chorionicity, waist-to-hip ratio and smoking. The association between GGT was significant for all five cardiometabolic risk factors, while adjusting for age. We show that GGT, a widely used biomarker of alcohol consumption, is associated with telomere length and with risk factors of cardiometabolic syndrome, despite the young age of this study population.

Serum anti-inflammatory and inflammatory markers have no causal impact on telomere length: a Mendelian randomization study

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory markers and telomere length (TL), a biological index of aging, is still poorly understood. By applying a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR), we investigated the causal associations between adiponectin, bilirubin, C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, and serum uric acid (SUA) with TL.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

MR was implemented by using summary-level data from the largest ever genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted on our interested exposure and TL. Inverse variance weighted method (IVW), weighted median (WM)-based method, MR-Egger, MR-Robust Adjusted Profile Score (RAPS), and MR-Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (PRESSO) were applied. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using the leave-one-out method.

RESULTS

With regard to adiponectin, CRP, leptin, and SUA levels, we found no effect on TL for all 4 types of tests (all p > 0.108). Results of the MR-Egger (p = 0.892) and IVW (p = 0.124) showed that bilirubin had no effect on telomere maintenance, whereas the results of the WM (p = 0.030) and RAPS (p = 0.022) were negative, with higher bilirubin concentrations linked to shorter TL. There was a low likelihood of heterogeneity for all the estimations, except for bilirubin (IVW p = 0.026, MR Egger p = 0.018). MR-PRESSO highlighted no outlier. For all the estimations, we observed negligible intercepts that were indicative of low likelihood of the pleiotropy (all p > 0.161). The results of leave-one-out method demonstrated that the links are not driven because of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results highlight that neither the anti-inflammatory nor pro-inflammatory markers tested have any significant causal effect on TL. The casual role of bilirubin on TL still needs to be investigated.

Active surveillance in prostate cancer management: where do we stand now?

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in men, with a steadily rising incidence, affecting on average one in six men during their lifetime. The increase in morbidity is related to the increasing overall life expectancy, prostate-specific antigen testing, implementation of new molecular markers for cancer detection and the more frequent application of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging. There is growing evidence demonstrating that active surveillance (AS) is an alternative to immediate intervention in patients with very low- and low-risk prostate cancer. Ongoing reports from multiple studies have consistently demonstrated a very low rate of metastases and prostate cancer specific mortality in selected cohorts of patients. As a matter of fact, AS has been adopted by many institutions as a safe and effective management strategy. The aim of our review is to summarize the contemporary data on AS in patients affected with PCa with the intention to present the most clinically useful and pertinent AS protocols.

Stabilization of telomere by the antioxidant property of polyphenols: Anti-aging potential

Aging is a form of a gradual loss of physiological integrity that results in impaired cellular function and ultimately increased vulnerability to disease and death. This process is a significant risk factor for critical age-related disorders such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurological conditions. Several mechanisms contribute to aging, most notably progressive telomeres shortening, which can be counteracted by telomerase enzyme activity and increasing in this enzyme activity associated with partly delaying the onset of aging. Individual behaviors and environmental factors such as nutrition affect the life-span by impact the telomerase activity rate. Healthy eating habits, including antioxidant intakes, such as polyphenols, can have a positive effect on telomere length by this mechanism. In this review, after studying the underlying mechanisms of aging and understanding the relationships between telomeres, telomerase, and aging, it has been attempted to explain the effect of polyphenols on reversing the oxidative stress and aging process.

The Dietary Inflammatory Index® and Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 in relation to leucocyte telomere length in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study

Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes that form the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes where they protect DNA from genomic instability, prevent end-to-end fusion and limit cellular replicative capabilities. Increased telomere attrition rates, and relatively shorter telomere length, is associated with genomic instability and has been linked with several chronic diseases, malignancies and reduced longevity. Telomeric DNA is highly susceptible to oxidative damage and dietary habits may make an impact on telomere attrition rates through the mediation of oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. The aim of this study was to examine the association between leucocyte telomere length (LTL) with both the Dietary Inflammatory Index^® 2014 (DII^®) and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010). This is a cross-sectional analysis using baseline data from 263 postmenopausal women from the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention (ALPHA) Trial, in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. No statistically significant association was detected between LTL z-score and the AHEI-2010 (P = 0·20) or DII^® (P = 0·91) in multivariable adjusted models. An exploratory analysis of AHEI-2010 and DII^® parameters and LTL revealed anthocyanidin intake was associated with LTL (P < 0·01); however, this association was non-significant after a Bonferroni correction was applied (P = 0·27). No effect modification by age, smoking history, or recreational physical activity was detected for either relationship. Increased dietary antioxidant and decreased oxidant intake were not associated with LTL in this analysis.

Association of nutraceutical supplements with longer telomere length

Telomeres are nucleotide tandem repeats located at the tip of eukaryotic chromosomes that maintain genomic integrity. The gradual shortening of telomeres leads to cellular senescence and apoptosis, a key mechanism of aging and age‑related chronic diseases. Epigenetic factors, such as nutrition, exercise and tobacco can affect the rate at which telomeres shorten and can modify the risk of developing chronic diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a combination of nutraceutical supplements (NS) on telomere length (TL) in healthy volunteers with no medical history of any disease. Participants (n=47) were selected from healthy outpatients visiting a private clinic and were divided into the experimental group (n=16), that received the NS and the control group (n=31). We estimated the length of single telomeres in metaphase spread leukocytes, isolated from peripheral blood, using quantitative‑fluorescent in situ hybridization (Q‑FISH) analysis. The length of the whole telomere genome was significantly increased (P<0.05) for the mean, 1st quartile and median measurements in the experimental group. Similar findings were observed for short TL (20th percentile) (P<0.05) for the median and 3rd quartile measurements in the NS group, compared to the control group. The beneficial effects of the supplements on the length of short telomeres remained significant (P<0.05) following adjustment for age and sex. Telomeres were moderately longer in female patients compared to the male patients. On the whole, the findings of this study suggest that the administration of NS may be linked to sustaining the TL.

Disease-Specific Comorbidity Clusters in COPD and Accelerated Aging

Background: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often suffer from multiple morbidities, which occur in clusters and are sometimes related to accelerated aging. This study aimed to assess the disease specificity of comorbidity clusters in COPD and their association with a biomarker of accelerated aging as a potential mechanistic factor. Methods: Body composition, metabolic, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and psychological morbidities were objectively evaluated in 208 COPD patients (age 62 ± 7 years, 58% males, FEV₁ 50 ± 16% predicted) and 200 non-COPD controls (age 61 ± 7 years, 45% males). Based on their presence and severity, the morbidities were clustered to generate distinct clusters in COPD and controls. Telomere length in circulating leukocytes was compared across the clusters. Results: (co)morbidities were more prevalent in COPD patients compared to controls (3.9 ± 1.7 vs. 2.4 ± 1.5, p < 0.05). A “Psychologic” and “Cachectic” cluster were only present in the COPD population. “Less (co)morbidity”, “Cardiovascular”, and “Metabolic” clusters were also observed in controls, although with less complexity. Telomere length was reduced in COPD patients, but did not differ between the (co)morbidity clusters in both populations. Conclusions: Two COPD-specific comorbidity clusters, a “Cachectic” and “Psychologic” cluster, were identified and warrant further studies regarding their development. Accelerated aging was present across various multimorbidity clusters in COPD.

Negative Association of Serum URIC Acid with Peripheral Blood Cellular Aging Markers

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to explore the association between serum UA and cellular aging markers.

DESIGN

The current cross-sectional analysis was based on data collected within a type 2 diabetes project.

SETTINGS

Serum uric acid (UA), which has both antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties, is thought to be involved in cellular aging processes.

PARTICIPANTS

There are 536 participants included in total, 65.3% of which are women. The average serum UA in women was 267.8 umol/l, lower than in men of 337.7 umol/l (P<0.001).

MEASUREMENTS

Serum UA, blood lipid profile, HbA1c, plasma glucose and insulin were determined. The peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) were assessed using a real-time PCR assay. Logistic regressions were used to analyze the associations between serum UA and cellular aging markers.

RESULTS

In Spearman's correlation analysis, there were significantly negative correlations between serum UA and LTL in both women and men (r=-0.162, P=0.006; and r=-0.232, P=0.004, respectively). The logistic regression adjusted for age, BMI, WC, daily energy intake, HbA1c, TG, and LDL-C revealed that the ORs of shorter LTL comparing the extreme serum UA quintiles was 5.52 (95% CI 1.69-18.02; P for trend =0.025) in women and 6.49 (95% CI 1.38-30.45; P for trend =0.108) in men. Furthermore, the OR (95% CI) for shorter LTL per 1 SD increment in serum UA was 1.51(1.10-2.07) in women and 1.64(1.01-2.65) in men. In regard to mtDNAcn, the association between elevated serum UA and lower mtDNAcn only reached significance in men when comparing the second and fifth quintiles with reference quintile (OR=3.73(1.07-13.04) and 3.76(1.01-14.09) , separately, and P for trend=0.066).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate a significant negative association between serum UA and peripheral blood cellular aging markers. Serum UA might play a role in promoting cellular aging.

Race-specific associations between health-related quality of life and cellular aging among adults in the United States: evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

PURPOSE

Poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) could lead to higher morbidity and mortality through telomere attrition or accelerated cellular aging. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to examine the relationship between four dimensions of HRQOL and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) among a nationally representative sample of 3547 US adults (≥20 years) using the data from the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

METHOD

We used HRQOL survey information collected on individuals' self-rated general health, recent physical health, recent mental health, and recent activity limitation. Telomere length was assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Multiple linear regressions were used to estimate the relationship between each dimension of HRQOL and log-transformed values of LTL with adjustment for sample weights and design effects.

RESULTS

HRQOL-race interactions were significant, and the results were stratified by race. After controlling for demographic factors, disease conditions, and lifestyle variables, worse general health was significantly associated with shorter LTL for Blacks (coefficient, β: -0.022, 95% Confidence Interval, 95% CI: -0.03 to -0.01), but not for Whites or Mexican Americans. Unwell physical health was associated with shorter telomere length for Whites (β: -0.005, 95% CI: -0.01 to -0.001) only. Unwell mental health showed no significant association with LTL in any race.

CONCLUSIONS

Although longitudinal studies are needed to prove causality, our findings suggest that HRQOL could be associated with LTL shortening. We also found a possible racial difference in this association and recommend additional multiethnic studies to confirm this and to understand the reasons and consequences of this difference.

Olive Oil and the Hallmarks of Aging

Aging is a multifactorial and tissue-specific process involving diverse alterations regarded as the "hallmarks of aging", which include genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion and altered intracellular communication. Virtually all these hallmarks are targeted by dietary olive oil, particularly by virgin olive oil, since many of its beneficial effects can be accounted not only for the monounsaturated nature of its predominant fatty acid (oleic acid), but also for the bioactivity of its minor compounds, which can act on cells though both direct and indirect mechanisms due to their ability to modulate gene expression. Among the minor constituents of virgin olive oil, secoiridoids stand out for their capacity to modulate many pathways that are relevant for the aging process. Attenuation of aging-related alterations by olive oil or its minor compounds has been observed in cellular, animal and human models. How olive oil targets the hallmarks of aging could explain the improvement of health, reduced risk of aging-associated diseases, and increased longevity which have been associated with consumption of a typical Mediterranean diet containing this edible oil as the predominant fat source.

The influence of oxidative stress induced by iron on telomere length

Oxidative stress can be induced by increased concentrations of iron in the body and consequently can cause shortening of telomeres. Telomeres, called mitotic clocks, are non-coding fragments at the end of chromosomes. During the replication of genetic material they are shortened, playing the role of ageing biomarkers in eukaryotes. In human endothelial cells, oxidative stress causes a decrease in telomerase activity. Shortening of chromosomes in telomeric parts was found in patients with primary hemochromatosis and in patients taking supplements containing iron. Increased level of transferrin saturation is associated with the presence of shorter telomeres in the chromosomes of leukocytes. The relationship between iron status and telomere length is still not fully understood.

Shortened telomere in unremitted schizophrenia

AIM

Telomere attrition has been noted in many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative syndromes, and may indicate a shared molecular pathology across conditions. We evaluated telomere length in subjects with remitted and unremitted schizophrenia and in control subjects.

METHODS

We measured telomere length as relative telomere/single-copy gene ratios in subjects with schizophrenia (n = 71) using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. This was compared with relative telomere/single-copy gene ratios in age-matched controls without neuropsychiatric illness (n = 73).

RESULTS

The relative telomere/single-copy gene ratios were significantly lower in subjects with unremitted schizophrenia when compared with control subjects (r = -0.281, P = 0.003), as well as the individuals with remitted schizophrenia.

CONCLUSION

The lower relative telomere length in unremitted schizophrenia subjects may thus indicate shared biological pathways with other neurodegenerative disorders that are also characterized by increased cellular senescence.

Mediterranean diet and leukocyte telomere length in a multi-ethnic elderly population

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is considered as the marker of biological aging and may be related to environmental factors. The current study aimed to examine the relation between Mediterranean-type diet and LTL. We used a cross-sectional study of 1743 multi-ethnic community residents of New York aged 65 years or older. Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi) was calculated from dietary information collected using a food frequency questionnaire. LTL was measured from leukocyte DNA using a real-time PCR method to measure T/S ratio, the ratio of telomere (T) to single-copy gene (S) sequence. Regression analysis showed that the MeDi score was not associated with LTL in the overall study population (β = 12.5; p = 0.32) after adjusting for age, sex, education, ethnicity, caloric intake, smoking, and physical and leisure activities. However, we found a significant association between MeDi and LTL among non-Hispanic whites (β = 48.3; p = 0.05), and the results held after excluding dementia subjects (β = 49.6; p = 0.05). We further found that, in the whole population, vegetable and cereal consumption above the sex-specific population median was associated with longer LTL (β = 89.1, p = 0.04) and shorter LTL (β = -93.5; p = 0.03), respectively. Among non-Hispanic whites, intake of meat or dairy below sex-specific population medians was associated with longer LTL (β = 154.7, p = 0.05; β = 240.5, p < 0.001, respectively). We found that higher adherence to a MeDi was associated with longer LTL among whites but not among African Americans and Hispanics. Additionally, a diet high in vegetables but low in cereal, meat, and dairy might be associated with longer LTL among healthy elderly.

Radical scavenging activity of antioxidants evaluated by means of electrogenerated HO radical

A method is proposed and tested concerning the characterization of antioxidants by means of their reaction with electrogenerated HO radicals in galvanostatic assays with simultaneous O2 evolution, using a Pt anode fairly oxidized. The consumption of a set of species with antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid (AA), caffeic acid (CA), gallic acid (GA) and trolox (T), is described by a first order kinetics. The rate of the processes is limited by the kinetics of reaction with HO radicals and by the kinetics of charge transfer. Information regarding the scavenger activity of antioxidants is obtained by the relative value of the rate constant of the reaction between antioxidants and HO radicals, k(AO,HO)/k(O2). The number of HO radicals scavenged per molecule of antioxidant is also estimated and ranged from 260 (ascorbic acid) to 500 (gallic acid). The method is applied successfully in the characterization of the scavenger activity of ascorbic acid in a green-tea based beverage.

Early life stress and telomere length: investigating the connection and possible mechanisms: a critical survey of the evidence base, research methodology and basic biology

How can adverse experiences in early life, such as maltreatment, exert such powerful negative effects on health decades later? The answer may lie in changes to DNA. New research suggests that exposure to stress can accelerate the erosion of DNA segments called telomeres. Shorter telomere length correlates with chronological age and also disease morbidity and mortality. Thus, telomere erosion is a potential mechanism linking childhood stress to health problems later in life. However, an array of mechanistic, methodological, and basic biological questions must be addressed in order to translate telomere discoveries into clinical applications for monitoring health and predicting disease risk. This paper covers the current state of the science and lays out new research directions.

Prognostic value of telomere length in acute coronary syndrome

Telomere and telomerase are involved in cellular and organismal ageing and have been related to human diseases. Coronary artery disease is one of the most common age-related health problems in developed countries. Nevertheless, the specific role of cellular ageing in this process is still unclear. In this study, we analyze the possible prognostic value of telomere length and telomerase polymorphisms in a population of 150 middle aged males (mean age 62 ± 7) admitted for acute coronary syndrome who were followed up for more than 600 days. Peripheral blood samples were obtained and relative and comparative qPCR was used to measure telomere length and real time PCR to study the polymorphisms. Two prognostic combined events were defined. Long telomere length was revealed as an independent predictor (protector) of combined event presentation during long term follow up in our patients.