Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Neuroscience and Brain Disease Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Pharmacy, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Pharmacy, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Dou-Liou Branch, Yunlin, Taiwan.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Nov 15;365:155-161. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.08.084. Epub 2024 Aug 15.
Bipolar disorder (BD) is hypothesized to be associated with accelerated biological aging. Telomere length (TL) is a biomarker of aging, and although TL decreases with each cell division, the rate of telomere shortening may be affected by inflammation. We aimed to investigate whether TL is decreased in BD patients and to determine the association between TL and inflammatory markers in such patients.
137 BD patients and 118 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Leukocyte TL and plasma levels of cytokines [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-8, IL-6, IL-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1], C-reactive protein (CRP), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were assessed.
TL did not differ significantly between the BD patients and HCs after adjustment for potential confounding factors (P = 0.79). TL was significantly negatively associated with age (β = -0.007, P < 0.001). In addition, log TNF-α levels were significantly negatively associated with TL (P = 0.009), in both the BD patients (P = 0.02) and HCs (P = 0.05).
We found a significant association between TNF-α levels and TL shortening in both BD patients and HCs. However, BD patients did not display increased TL shortening relative to HCs. Studies that involve larger sample sizes and control for the heterogeneity of BD participants will be needed.
双相情感障碍（BD）被假设与加速的生物衰老有关。端粒长度（TL）是衰老的生物标志物，尽管 TL 随着每个细胞分裂而减少，但端粒缩短的速度可能受到炎症的影响。我们旨在研究 BD 患者的 TL 是否降低，并确定 TL 与此类患者的炎症标志物之间的关联。
招募了 137 名 BD 患者和 118 名健康对照者（HCs）。评估白细胞 TL 和血浆细胞因子[肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α、白细胞介素（IL）-8、IL-6、IL-10、转化生长因子（TGF）-β1]、C 反应蛋白（CRP）和脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）的水平。
在调整潜在混杂因素后，BD 患者和 HCs 之间的 TL 无显著差异（P=0.79）。TL 与年龄呈显著负相关（β=-0.007，P<0.001）。此外，log TNF-α水平与 TL 呈显著负相关（P=0.009），在 BD 患者（P=0.02）和 HCs（P=0.05）中均如此。
我们发现 BD 患者和 HCs 中 TNF-α水平与 TL 缩短之间存在显著关联。然而，BD 患者的 TL 缩短程度并不高于 HCs。需要进行涉及更大样本量并控制 BD 参与者异质性的研究。
