Bischoff Claus, Petersen Hans Christian, Graakjaer Jesper, Andersen-Ranberg Karen, Vaupel James W, Bohr Vilhelm A, Kølvraa Steen, Christensen Kaare
Institute of Human Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
Epidemiology. 2006 Mar;17(2):190-4. doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000199436.55248.10.
The consistent findings of a negative correlation between telomere length and replicative potential of cultured cells, as well as a decreasing telomere length in a number of different tissues in humans with age, have led to the suggestion that telomeres play a role in cellular aging in vivo and ultimately even in organismal aging. Furthermore, one small longitudinal study of elderly individuals has suggested that longer telomeres are associated with better survival.
Telomere length was measured as mean terminal restriction fragment length on blood cells from 812 persons, age 73 to 101 years, who participated in population-based surveys in 1997-1998. Among the participants were 652 twins. The participants were followed up through the Danish Civil Registration system until January 2005, at which time 412 (51%) were dead.
Univariate Cox regression analyses revealed that longer telomeres were associated with better survival (hazard ratios = 0.89 [95% confidence interval = 0.76-1.04] per 1 kb in males and 0.79 [0.72-0.88] per 1 kb in females, respectively). However, including age in the analyses changed the estimates to 0.97 (0.83-1.14) and 0.93 (0.85-1.03), respectively. Intrapair comparison showed that among 175 twin pairs in which at least one died during follow up, it was the twin with the shorter telomere length who died first in 97 (55%) of the pairs (95% confidence interval = 48-63%). We could not confirm the recently reported negative correlation between telomere length and obesity or between telomere length and smoking.
This longitudinal study of the elderly and oldest old does not support the hypothesis that telomere length is a predictor for remaining lifespan once age is controlled for.
端粒长度与培养细胞复制潜能之间存在负相关这一一致发现，以及随着年龄增长人类许多不同组织中端粒长度不断缩短，促使人们提出端粒在体内细胞衰老乃至最终在机体衰老中发挥作用的观点。此外，一项针对老年人的小型纵向研究表明，较长的端粒与更好的生存率相关。
对812名年龄在73至101岁之间、参与了1997 - 1998年基于人群调查的人员的血细胞，测量其端粒长度，以平均末端限制片段长度表示。参与者中有652对双胞胎。通过丹麦民事登记系统对参与者进行随访，直至2005年1月，此时412人（51%）已死亡。
单变量Cox回归分析显示，较长的端粒与更好的生存率相关（男性每1 kb的风险比 = 0.89 [95%置信区间 = 0.76 - 1.04]，女性每1 kb的风险比 = 0.79 [0.72 - 0.88]）。然而，在分析中纳入年龄后，估计值分别变为0.97（0.83 - 1.14）和0.93（0.85 - 1.03）。配对比较显示，在175对双胞胎中，至少有一人在随访期间死亡，其中97对（55%）是端粒长度较短的双胞胎先死亡（95%置信区间 = 48 - 63%）。我们无法证实最近报道的端粒长度与肥胖或端粒长度与吸烟之间的负相关关系。
这项针对老年人和高龄老人的纵向研究不支持以下假设：一旦对年龄进行控制，端粒长度是剩余寿命的预测指标。
