Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Laboratory for Molecular Epidemiology in Diabetes, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
NHMRC Clinical Trial Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2021 Feb;9(2):117-126. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30365-X. Epub 2020 Nov 26.
Telomeres are regions of repetitive nucleotide sequences at the ends of chromosomes. Telomere length is a marker of DNA damage, which is often considered a biomarker for biological ageing, and has also been linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Emerging studies have highlighted the role of genetic and environmental factors, and explored the effect of modulating telomere length. We provide an overview of studies to date on diabetes and telomere length, and compare different methods and assays for evaluating telomere length and telomerase activity. We highlight the limitations of current studies and areas that warrant further research to unravel the link between diabetes and telomere length. The value of adding telomere length to clinical risk factors to improve risk prediction of diabetes and related complications also merits further investigation.
端粒是染色体末端重复核苷酸序列的区域。端粒长度是 DNA 损伤的标志物，通常被认为是生物衰老的生物标志物，也与心血管疾病、糖尿病和癌症有关。新兴的研究强调了遗传和环境因素的作用，并探讨了调节端粒长度的效果。我们提供了迄今为止关于糖尿病和端粒长度的研究概述，并比较了评估端粒长度和端粒酶活性的不同方法和检测。我们强调了当前研究的局限性和需要进一步研究的领域，以揭示糖尿病和端粒长度之间的联系。将端粒长度添加到临床危险因素中以提高对糖尿病和相关并发症的风险预测的价值也值得进一步研究。
