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Relative Telomere Length and Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Authors :
Moritz Koriath
Christian Müller
Norbert Pfeiffer
Stefan Nickels
Manfred Beutel
Irene Schmidtmann
Steffen Rapp
Thomas Münzel
Dirk Westermann
Mahir Karakas
Philipp S. Wild
Karl J. Lackner
Stefan Blankenberg
Tanja Zeller
Source :
Biomolecules, Vol 9, Iss 5, p 192 (2019)
Publication Year :
2019
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2019.

Abstract

(1) Background: Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences located at the extremities of chromosomes that maintain genetic stability. Telomere biology is relevant to several human disorders and diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease. To better understand the link between cardiovascular disease and telomere length, we studied the effect of relative telomere length (RTL) on cardiovascular risk factors in a large population-based sample. (2) Methods: RTL was measured by a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in subjects of the population-based Gutenberg Health Study (n = 4944). We then performed an association study of RTL with known cardiovascular risk factors of smoking status as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. (3) Results: A significant correlation was shown for RTL, with age as a quality control in our study (effect = −0.004, p = 3.2 × 10−47). Analysis of the relation between RTL and cardiovascular risk factors showed a significant association of RTL in patients who were current smokers (effect = −0.016, p = 0.048). No significant associations with RTL were seen for cardiovascular risk factors of LDL cholesterol (p = 0.127), HDL cholesterol (p = 0.713), triglycerides (p = 0.359), smoking (p = 0.328), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.615), systolic blood pressure (p = 0.949), or BMI (p = 0.903). In a subsequent analysis, we calculated the tertiles of RTL. No significant difference across RTL tertiles was detectable for BMI, blood pressure, lipid levels, or smoking status. Finally, we studied the association of RTL and cardiovascular risk factors stratified by tertiles of age. We found a significant association of RTL and LDL cholesterol in the oldest tertile of age (effect = 0.0004, p = 0.006). (4) Conclusions: We determined the association of relative telomere length and cardiovascular risk factors in a population setting. An association of telomere length with age, current smoking status, as well as with LDL cholesterol in the oldest tertile of age was found, whereas no associations were observed between telomere length and triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, or BMI.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2218273X
Volume :
9
Issue :
5
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Biomolecules
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.4d839ff89eca45b8bc45089c0ae4e77c
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9050192