Telomere Length and Biological Aging in Atherosclerosis

This study aims to evaluate the change in telomere length in peripheral white blood cells of patients with atherosclerosis. Biological age may be distinct from chronological age. Mean telomere length provides an assessment of biological age, with shorter telomeres indicating older biological age. We investigated whether patients with atherosclerosis had shorter leukocyte telomere length. One hundred patients, excluding those with acute or chronic inflammation, cancer, and autoimmune diseases, were entered into this study and divided into two groups: atherosclerosis group (AS group) and control group. The two groups were matched in respect to age, gender and smoking status. Telomere length was measured as the mean length of the terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) in peripheral leukocytes, using the Southern blotting and software analysis of scanned autoradiographic images. Telomere length in peripheral white blood cells of AS group was markedly shorter than that of control group (mean +/- SD: 7.48 +/- 1.14 kb vs. 8.18 +/- 0.73 kb, P < 0.001). The telomere length in peripheral white blood cells correlated negatively with patients' age in both groups (P = 0.02; P < 0.001). The difference in mean TRF length between the AS and control groups was not accounted for by other coronary risk factors. Compared with patients in the highest quartile of telomere length, the risk of atherosclerosis was increased 2.8-3.2-fold (P < 0.0001) in patients with telomeres shorter than the average. In comparison with the control group, telomere length in white blood cells of the AS group was markedly shorter. This finding supports the concept that biological age may play a role in the etiology of AS.