Danish Aging Research Center, University of Southern Denmark, JB Winslowsvej 9B, DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark.
Mech Ageing Dev. 2011 Nov-Dec;132(11-12):568-72. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2011.10.003. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortens with age and is potentially a biomarker of human aging. We examined the relation of LTL with physical ability and cognitive function in 548 same-sex twins from the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins. LTL was measured by Southern blots of the terminal restriction fragments (TRF). Physical ability was evaluated using a self reported scale of 11 questions, while cognitive function was scored by MMSE and a cognitive composite score sensitive to age-related decline. A random intercept model revealed a positive, significant association between LTL and physical ability. For every unit increase in physical ability score, LTL increased by 0.066 kb (p = 0.01), equal to approximately three years of age-dependent LTL shortening. A matched case-co-twin design showed that the group consisting of the twins from each pair with the longer LTL also displayed better physical ability (p < 0.01). Moreover, the intra-pair difference in LTL was associated with intra-pair difference in physical ability (p < 0.01), confirming the association. However, we found no association between cognitive function and LTL. The LTL-physical ability association in the elderly provides further support to the premise that LTL is an index of somatic fitness in the narrow context of human physical health.
白细胞端粒长度 (LTL) 随年龄增长而缩短，可能是人类衰老的生物标志物。我们在来自丹麦双胞胎纵向老龄化研究的 548 对同性别双胞胎中，研究了 LTL 与身体能力和认知功能的关系。LTL 通过端粒限制片段 (TRF) 的 Southern 印迹来测量。身体能力通过 11 个问题的自我报告量表进行评估，而认知功能则通过 MMSE 和对年龄相关下降敏感的认知综合评分进行评分。随机截距模型显示 LTL 与身体能力之间存在正相关关系。对于身体能力评分每增加一个单位，LTL 增加 0.066 kb（p = 0.01），相当于大约三年的年龄相关 LTL 缩短。配对病例-对双胞胎设计表明，每对双胞胎中 LTL 较长的那一组也表现出更好的身体能力（p < 0.01）。此外，LTL 之间的个体内差异与身体能力之间的个体内差异相关（p < 0.01），证实了这种关联。然而，我们没有发现认知功能与 LTL 之间的关联。老年人中 LTL 与身体能力的关联进一步支持了这样的前提，即 LTL 是人类身体健康狭义范围内身体适应性的一个指标。
