Steenstrup Troels, Kark Jeremy D, Verhulst Simon, Thinggaard Mikael, Hjelmborg Jacob V B, Dalgård Christine, Kyvik Kirsten Ohm, Christiansen Lene, Mangino Massimo, Spector Timothy D, Petersen Inge, Kimura Masayuki, Benetos Athanase, Labat Carlos, Sinnreich Ronit, Hwang Shih-Jen, Levy Daniel, Hunt Steven C, Fitzpatrick Annette L, Chen Wei, Berenson Gerald S, Barbieri Michelangela, Paolisso Giuseppe, Gadalla Shahinaz M, Savage Sharon A, Christensen Kaare, Yashin Anatoliy I, Arbeev Konstantin G, Aviv Abraham
Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense 5000, Denmark.
Epidemiology Unit, Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
Aging (Albany NY). 2017 Apr;9(4):1130-1142. doi: 10.18632/aging.101216.
An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus, secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.
人口统计学中一个持续存在的争论焦点是人类寿命是否存在最大自然极限。从机制角度来看，并且鉴于短端粒与寿命缩短相关，我们研究了成年期端粒长度动态变化是否会设定一个最大自然寿命极限。我们将5千碱基对的白细胞端粒长度定义为“端粒临界值”，这意味着即将死亡的高风险。我们发现，一部分成年人可能在当前预期寿命内达到端粒临界值，而对于预期寿命为100岁的情况更是如此。因此，预期寿命的长期趋势应该会因跨越端粒临界值而面临生物学极限。
