Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States.
Elife. 2021 Sep 8;10:e60389. doi: 10.7554/eLife.60389.
Previously, we demonstrated that a water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional intervention improved linear growth and was unexpectedly associated with shortened childhood telomere length (TL) (Lin et al., 2017). Here, we assessed the association between TL and growth.
We measured relative TL in whole blood from 713 children. We reported differences between the 10th percentile and 90th percentile of TL or change in TL distribution using generalized additive models, adjusted for potential confounders.
In cross-sectional analyses, long TL was associated with a higher length-for-age Z score at age 1 year (0.23 SD adjusted difference in length-for-age Z score [95% CI 0.05, 0.42; FDR-corrected p-value = 0.01]). TL was not associated with other outcomes.
Consistent with the , our previous trial findings support an adaptive role for telomere attrition, whereby active TL regulation is employed as a strategy to address 'emergency states' with increased energy requirements such as rapid growth during the first year of life. Although short periods of active telomere attrition may be essential to promote growth, this study suggests that a longer overall initial TL setting in the first 2 years of life could signal increased resilience against future telomere erosion events and healthy growth trajectories.
Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
NCT01590095.
此前，我们证明了水、环境卫生和个人卫生以及营养干预措施可促进线性生长，出乎意料的是，该措施还与缩短儿童端粒长度（TL）有关（Lin 等人，2017 年）。在此，我们评估了 TL 与生长之间的关系。
我们测量了 713 名儿童全血中的相对 TL。我们使用广义加性模型报告了 TL 分布的第 10 百分位数和第 90 百分位数之间的差异，或 TL 分布变化，调整了潜在混杂因素。
在横断面分析中，长 TL 与 1 岁时的年龄别身高 Z 评分较高相关（年龄别身高 Z 评分的调整差异为 0.23 SD[95%CI 0.05，0.42；经 FDR 校正的 p 值=0.01]）。TL 与其他结局无关。
与我们之前的试验结果一致，我们的研究结果支持端粒损耗的适应性作用，即积极的端粒调节可作为一种策略，用于应对生命第一年中快速生长等能量需求增加的“紧急状态”。尽管短时间的积极端粒损耗可能对促进生长很重要，但本研究表明，在生命的前 2 年中初始 TL 总长度较长可能预示着对未来端粒侵蚀事件和健康生长轨迹的更强抵抗力。
由比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会资助。
NCT01590095。
