Telomere length in cardiovascular disease: New challenges in measuring this marker of cardiovascular aging

Future Cardiology

Volumn 7, Issue 5, 2011, Pages 693-707

  Hoffmann, Jedrzej ^a   Spyridopoulos, Ioakim ^a  

^a NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

aging; atherosclerosis; cardiovascular; coronary heart disease; leukocytes; telomerase; telomere; telomere length

Indexed keywords

C REACTIVE PROTEIN; GENOMIC DNA; INTERLEUKIN 6; TELOMERASE; TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA; EXTRACHROMOSOMAL DNA; HYDROXYMETHYLGLUTARYL COENZYME A REDUCTASE INHIBITOR; NUCLEOPROTEIN; PRAVASTATIN; REPETITIVE DNA; T LYMPHOCYTE RECEPTOR; TELOMERASE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE;

AGING; APLASTIC ANEMIA; ATHEROSCLEROSIS; BONE MARROW DEPRESSION; CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE; CELL COMPOSITION; DOT HYBRIDIZATION; DYSKERATOSIS CONGENITA; ETHNICITY; FLOW CYTOMETRY; FLUORESCENCE IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION; GENETIC VARIABILITY; HELPER CELL; HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL; HEMATOPOIETIC SYSTEM; HEREDITY; HUMAN; LEUKOCYTE; LEUKOCYTE COUNT; MEASUREMENT; MEASUREMENT ERROR; MONOCYTE; NONHUMAN; POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROTEIN EXPRESSION; REGULATORY T LYMPHOCYTE; REVIEW; SINGLE TELOMERE LENGTH ANALYSIS; SOUTHERN BLOTTING; T LYMPHOCYTE; TELOMERE; TERMINAL RESTRICTION FRAGMENT ANALYSIS; TH1 CELL; TH2 CELL; BLOOD LEVEL; BONE MARROW; CD4+ T LYMPHOCYTE; CELL DIVISION; CHROMOSOME SIZE; CHRONIC INFLAMMATION; CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE; CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE; CYTOMEGALOVIRUS; DISEASE ASSOCIATION; DISEASE SEVERITY; ENDOTHELIUM CELL; GENE AMPLIFICATION; GENETIC ASSOCIATION; GRANULOCYTE; HEART FAILURE; INFERTILITY; LIFESPAN; MARKER CHROMOSOME; METAPHASE; MYELOID PROGENITOR CELL; OXIDATIVE STRESS; PREMATURE AGING;

AGING; CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES; GENETIC MARKERS; HUMANS; OXIDATIVE STRESS; TELOMERE;

EID: 80655123513     PISSN: 14796678     EISSN: 17448298     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2217/fca.11.55     Document Type: Review

References (139)

1. Samani NJ, Boultby R, Butler R, Thompson JR, Goodall AH. Telomere shortening in atherosclerosis. Lancet 358, 472-473 (2001). (Pubitemid 32769858)
2. Cawthon RM, Smith KR, O'Brien E, Sivatchenko A, Kerber RA. Association between telomere length in blood and mortality in people aged 60 years or older. Lancet 361, 393-395 (2003). (Pubitemid 36164975)
3. De Meyer T, Rietzschel ER, De Buyzere ML, Van Criekinge W, Bekaert S. Telomere length and cardiovascular aging: the means to the ends? Ageing Res. Rev. 10, 297-303 (2011).
4. Hansson GK, Libby P. The immune response in atherosclerosis: a double-edged sword. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 6, 508-519 (2006). (Pubitemid 43980523)
5. Rossmann A, Henderson B, Heidecker B et al. T-cells from advanced atherosclerotic lesions recognize hHSP60 and have a restricted T-cell receptor repertoire. Exp. Gerontol. 43, 229-237 (2008).
6. Caligiuri G, Paulsson G, Nicoletti A, Maseri A, Hansson GK. Evidence for antigen-driven T-cell response in unstable angina. Circulation 102, 1114-1119 (2000).
7. Sahin E, Depinho RA. Linking functional decline of telomeres, mitochondria and stem cells during ageing. Nature 464, 520-528 (2010).
8. Taleb S, Tedgui A, Mallat Z. Adaptive T cell immune responses and atherogenesis. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 10, 197-202 (2010).
9. Mallat Z, Besnard S, Duriez M et al. Protective role of interleukin-10 in atherosclerosis. Circ. Res. 85, e17-e24 (1999).
10. Taleb S, Tedgui A, Mallat Z. Regulatory T-cell immunity and its relevance to atherosclerosis. J. Intern. Med. 263, 489-499 (2008). (Pubitemid 351533554)
11. Mallat Z, Taleb S, Ait-Oufella H, Tedgui A. The role of adaptive T cell immunity in atherosclerosis. J. Lipid Res. 50(Suppl.), S364-S369 (2009).
12. Ait-Oufella H, Salomon BL, Potteaux S et al. Natural regulatory T cells control the development of atherosclerosis in mice. Nat. Med. 12, 178-180 (2006). (Pubitemid 43214743)
13. Sasaki N, Yamashita T, Takeda M et al. Oral anti-CD3 antibody treatment induces regulatory T cells and inhibits the development of atherosclerosis in mice. Circulation 120, 1996-2005 (2009).
14. 25+ regulatory T cells in experimental atherosclerosis. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 27, 893-900 (2007). (Pubitemid 46606722)
15. Entin-Meer M, Afek A, George J. Regulatory T-cells, FoxP3 and atherosclerosis. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 665, 106-114 (2009).
16. 25+ regulatory T cells in macrophage-derived foam-cell formation. J. Lipid Res. 51, 1208-1217 (2010).
17. George J. Mechanisms of disease: the evolving role of regulatory T cells in atherosclerosis. Nat. Clin. Pract. Cardiovasc. Med. 5, 531-540 (2008).
18. Youssef S, Stuve O, Patarroyo JC et al. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, atorvastatin, promotes a Th2 bias and reverses paralysis in central nervous system autoimmune disease. Nature 420, 78-84 (2002). (Pubitemid 35291443)
19. Swirski FK, Nahrendorf M, Etzrodt M et al. Identification of splenic reservoir monocytes and their deployment to inflammatory sites. Science 325, 612-616 (2009).
20. Nahrendorf M, Pittet MJ, Swirski FK. Monocytes: protagonists of infarct inflammation and repair after myocardial infarction. Circulation 121, 2437-2445 (2010).
21. de Lange T. Shelterin: the protein complex that shapes and safeguards human telomeres. Genes Dev. 19, 2100-2110 (2005). (Pubitemid 41330312)
22. Blackburn EH. Structure and function of telomeres. Nature 350, 569-573 (1991). (Pubitemid 21912269)
23. Moyzis RK, Buckingham JM, Cram LS et al. A highly conserved repetitive DNA sequence, (TTAGGG)n, present at the telomeres of human chromosomes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 85, 6622-6626 (1988).
24. Blasco MA. Telomeres and human disease: ageing, cancer and beyond. Nat. Rev. Genet. 6, 611-622 (2005). (Pubitemid 41044298)
25. Blasco MA. The epigenetic regulation of mammalian telomeres. Nat. Rev. Genet. 8, 299-309 (2007). (Pubitemid 46439289)
26. Martens UM, Zijlmans JM, Poon S et al. Short telomeres on human chromosome 17p. Nat. Genet. 18, 76-80 (1998). (Pubitemid 28027885)
27. Blackburn EH. Switching and signaling at the telomere. Cell 106, 661-673 (2001). (Pubitemid 32900658)
28. Griffith JD, Comeau L, Rosenfield S et al. Mammalian telomeres end in a large duplex loop. Cell 97, 503-514 (1999). (Pubitemid 29231173)
29. Liu D, O'Connor MS, Qin J, Songyang Z. Telosome, a mammalian telomere-associated complex formed by multiple telomeric proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 279, 51338-51342 (2004). (Pubitemid 40017880)
30. Sandell LL, Zakian VA. Loss of a yeast telomere: arrest, recovery, and chromosome loss. Cell 75, 729-739 (1993). (Pubitemid 23346371)
31. de Lange T. Protection of mammalian telomeres. Oncogene 21, 532-540 (2002). (Pubitemid 34146253)
32. Blackburn EH. Telomere states and cell fates. Nature 408, 53-56 (2000).
33. Wright WE, Piatyszek MA, Rainey WE, Byrd W, Shay JW. Telomerase activity in human germline and embryonic tissues and cells. Dev. Genet. 18, 173-179 (1996). (Pubitemid 26116862)
34. Thomson JA, Itskovitz-Eldor J, Shapiro SS et al. Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts. Science 282, 1145-1147 (1998). (Pubitemid 28516247)
35. Kim NW, Piatyszek MA, Prowse KR et al. Specific association of human telomerase activity with immortal cells and cancer. Science 266, 2011-2015 (1994).
36. Feng J, Funk WD, Wang SS et al. The RNA component of human telomerase. Science 269, 1236-1241 (1995).
37. Zhu J, Wang H, Bishop JM, Blackburn EH. Telomerase extends the lifespan of virus-transformed human cells without net telomere lengthening. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 3723-3728 (1999). (Pubitemid 29168977)
38. Vaziri H, Dragowska W, Allsopp RC, Thomas TE, Harley CB, Lansdorp PM. Evidence for a mitotic clock in human hematopoietic stem cells: loss of telomeric DNA with age. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 91, 9857-9860 (1994). (Pubitemid 24311907)
39. Bodnar AG, Ouellette M, Frolkis M et al. Extension of life-span by introduction of telomerase into normal human cells. Science 279, 349-352 (1998). (Pubitemid 28063364)
40. Zimmermann S, Glaser S, Ketteler R, Waller CF, Klingmuller U, Martens UM. Effects of telomerase modulation in human hematopoietic progenitor cells. Stem Cells 22, 741-749 (2004). (Pubitemid 39166931)
41. Blasco MA, Lee HW, Hande MP et al. Telomere shortening and tumor formation by mouse cells lacking telomerase RNA. Cell 91, 25-34 (1997). (Pubitemid 27431310)
42. Rudolph KL, Chang S, Lee HW et al. Longevity, stress response, and cancer in aging telomerase-deficient mice. Cell 96, 701-712 (1999). (Pubitemid 29122812)
43. Herrera E, Samper E, Martin-Caballero J, Flores JM, Lee HW, Blasco MA. Disease states associated with telomerase deficiency appear earlier in mice with short telomeres. EMBO J. 18, 2950-2960 (1999). (Pubitemid 29255604)
44. Flores I, Cayuela ML, Blasco MA. Effects of telomerase and telomere length on epidermal stem cell behavior. Science 309, 1253-1256 (2005). (Pubitemid 41170921)
45. Jaskelioff M, Muller FL, Paik JH et al. Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature 469(7328), 102-106 (2011).
46. Wong LS, Oeseburg H, de Boer RA, van Gilst WH, van Veldhuisen DJ, van der Harst P. Telomere biology in cardiovascular disease: the TERC-/-mouse as a model for heart failure and ageing. Cardiovasc. Res. 81, 244-252 (2009).
47. Samani NJ, Erdmann J, Hall AS et al. Genomewide association analysis of coronary artery disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 357, 443-453 (2007). (Pubitemid 47204873)
48. Brouilette SW, Whittaker A, Stevens SE et al. Telomere length is shorter in healthy offspring of subjects with coronary artery disease: support for the telomere hypothesis. Heart 94, 422-425 (2008). (Pubitemid 351441394)
49. Brouilette S, Singh RK, Thompson JR, Goodall AH, Samani NJ. White cell telomere length and risk of premature myocardial infarction. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 23, 842-846 (2003). (Pubitemid 36566175)
50. Brouilette SW, Moore JS, McMahon AD et al. Telomere length, risk of coronary heart disease, and statin treatment in the West of Scotland Primary Prevention Study: a nested case-control study. Lancet 369, 107-114 (2007). (Pubitemid 46073129)
51. Farzaneh-Far R, Cawthon RM, Na B, Browner WS, Schiller NB, Whooley MA. Prognostic value of leukocyte telomere length in patients with stable coronary artery disease. Data from the Heart and Soul Study. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 28(7), 1379-1384 (2008).
52. van der Harst P, van der Steege G, de Boer RA et al. Telomere length of circulating leukocytes is decreased in patients with chronic heart failure. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 49, 1459-1464 (2007).
53. Sarin KY, Cheung P, Gilison D et al. Conditional telomerase induction causes proliferation of hair follicle stem cells. Nature 436, 1048-1052 (2005). (Pubitemid 41191691)
54. Park JI, Venteicher AS, Hong JY et al. Telomerase modulates Wnt signalling by association with target gene chromatin. Nature 460, 66-72 (2009).
55. Kovalenko OA, Caron MJ, Ulema P et al. A mutant telomerase defective in nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling fails to immortalize cells and is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Aging Cell 9, 203-219 (2010).
56. Haendeler J, Drose S, Buchner N et al. Mitochondrial telomerase reverse transcriptase binds to and protects mitochondrial DNA and function from damage. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 29, 929-935 (2009).
57. Jakob S, Schroeder P, Lukosz M et al. Nuclear protein tyrosine phosphatase Shp-2 is one important negative regulator of nuclear export of telomerase reverse transcriptase. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 33155-33161 (2008).
58. Haendeler J, Hoffmann J, Diehl JF et al. Antioxidants inhibit nuclear export of telomerase reverse transcriptase and delay replicative senescence of endothelial cells. Circ. Res. 94, 768-775 (2004). (Pubitemid 38451738)
59. Ahmed S, Passos JF, Birket MJ et al. Telomerase does not counteract telomere shortening but protects mitochondrial function under oxidative stress. J. Cell Sci. 121, 1046-1053 (2008). (Pubitemid 351639423)
60. Yang C, Przyborski S, Cooke MJ et al. A key role for telomerase reverse transcriptase unit in modulating human embryonic stem cell proliferation, cell cycle dynamics, and in vitro differentiation. Stem Cells 26, 850-863 (2008).
61. Saretzki G, Walter T, Atkinson S et al. Downregulation of multiple stress defense mechanisms during differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells 26, 455-464 (2008). (Pubitemid 351413606)
62. Spyridopoulos I. Is telomerase a potential target for vascular rejuvenation? Atherosclerosis 216(1), 19-20 (2011).
63. Allshire RC, Gosden JR, Cross SH et al. Telomeric repeat from T. thermophila cross hybridizes with human telomeres. Nature 332, 656-659 (1988).
64. Harley CB, Futcher AB, Greider CW. Telomeres shorten during ageing of human fibroblasts. Nature 345, 458-460 (1990).
65. Southern EM. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J. Mol. Biol. 98, 503-517 (1975).
66. de Lange T, Shiue L, Myers RM et al. Structure and variability of human chromosome ends. Mol. Cell. Biol. 10, 518-527 (1990).
67. Baird DM, Britt-Compton B, Rowson J, Amso NN, Gregory L, Kipling D. Telomere instability in the male germline. Hum. Mol. Genet. 15, 45-51 (2006). (Pubitemid 43020103)
68. Kimura M, Stone RC, Hunt SC et al. Measurement of telomere length by the Southern blot analysis of terminal restriction fragment lengths. Nat. Protoc. 5, 1596-1607 (2010).
69. Lansdorp PM, Verwoerd NP, van de Rijke FM et al. Heterogeneity in telomere length of human chromosomes. Hum. Mol. Genet. 5, 685-691 (1996). (Pubitemid 26141285)
70. Canela A, Vera E, Klatt P, Blasco MA. High-throughput telomere length quantification by FISH and its application to human population studies. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 5300-5305 (2007). (Pubitemid 47175675)
71. Rufer N, Brummendorf TH, Kolvraa S et al. Telomere fluorescence measurements in granulocytes and T lymphocyte subsets point to a high turnover of hematopoietic stem cells and memory T cells in early childhood. J. Exp. Med. 190, 157-167 (1999). (Pubitemid 29354909)
72. Baerlocher GM, Vulto I, de Jong G, Lansdorp PM. Flow cytometry and FISH to measure the average length of telomeres (flow FISH).Nat. Protoc. 1, 2365-2376 (2006).
73. Baerlocher GM, Lansdorp PM. Telomere length measurements in leukocyte subsets by automated multicolor flow-FISH. Cytometry 55A, 1-6 (2003). (Pubitemid 37522515)
74. Spyridopoulos I, Hoffmann J, Aicher A et al. Accelerated telomere shortening in leukocyte subpopulations of patients with coronary heart disease: role of cytomegalovirus seropositivity. Circulation 120, 1364-1372 (2009).
75. Cawthon RM. Telomere measurement by quantitative PCR. Nucleic Acids Res. 30, e47 (2002).
76. Huzen J, Peeters W, de Boer RA et al. Circulating leukocyte and carotid atherosclerotic plaque telomere length: interrelation, association with plaque characteristics, and restenosis after endarterectomy. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 31, 1219-1225 (2011).
77. Bendix L, Horn PB, Jensen UB, Rubelj I, Kolvraa S. The load of short telomeres, estimated by a new method, Universal STELA, correlates with number of senescent cells. Aging Cell 9, 383-397 (2010).
78. Kimura M, Aviv A. Measurement of telomere DNA content by dot blot analysis. Nucleic Acids Res. 39, e84 (2011).
79. Abbas AK, Lohr J, Knoechel B. Balancing autoaggressive and protective T cell responses. J. Autoimmun. 28, 59-61 (2007). (Pubitemid 46670685)
80. Weng N. Interplay between telomere length and telomerase in human leukocyte differentiation and aging. J. Leukoc. Biol. 70, 861-867 (2001). (Pubitemid 33151124)
81. Lansdorp PM. Self-renewal of stem cells. Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant. 3, 171-178 (1997). (Pubitemid 127531535)
82. Brummendorf TH, Balabanov S. Telomere length dynamics in normal hematopoiesis and in disease states characterized by increased stem cell turnover. Leukemia 20, 1706-1716 (2006). (Pubitemid 44574982)
83. Broccoli D, Young JW, de Lange T. Telomerase activity in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 9082-9086 (1995).
84. Chiu CP, Dragowska W, Kim NW et al. Differential expression of telomerase activity in hematopoietic progenitors from adult human bone marrow. Stem Cells 14, 239-248 (1996). (Pubitemid 26111117)
85. Notaro R, Cimmino A, Tabarini D, Rotoli B, Luzzatto L. In vivo telomere dynamics of human hematopoietic stem cells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 94, 13782-13785 (1997). (Pubitemid 28009661)
86. Narducci ML, Grasselli A, Biasucci LM et al. High telomerase activity in neutrophils from unstable coronary plaques. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 50, 2369-2374 (2007). (Pubitemid 50011577)
87. Spyridopoulos I, Erben Y, Brummendorf TH et al. Telomere gap between granulocytes and lymphocytes is a determinant for hematopoetic progenitor cell impairment in patients with previous myocardial infarction. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 28, 968-974 (2008). (Pubitemid 351544115)
88. Hoffmann J, Erben Y, Zeiher AM, Dimmeler S, Spyridopoulos I. Telomere length-heterogeneity among myeloid cells is a predictor for chronological ageing. Exp. Gerontol. 44, 363-366 (2009).
89. Effros RB, Pawelec G. Replicative senescence of T cells: does the Hayflick Limit lead to immune exhaustion? Immunol. Today 18, 450-454 (1997). (Pubitemid 27381988)
90. Rufer N, Dragowska W, Thornbury G, Roosnek E, Lansdorp PM. Telomere length dynamics in human lymphocyte subpopulations measured by flow cytometry. Nat. Biotechnol. 16, 743-747 (1998). (Pubitemid 28363755)
91. Akbar AN, Beverley PC, Salmon M. Will telomere erosion lead to a loss of T-cell memory? Nat. Rev. Immunol. 4, 737-743 (2004). (Pubitemid 39223079)
92. Effros RB, Dagarag M, Spaulding C, Man J. The role of CD8+ T-cell replicative senescence in human aging. Immunol. Rev. 205, 147-157 (2005). (Pubitemid 40780183)
93. Guan JZ, Maeda T, Sugano M, Oyama J, Higuchi Y, Makino N. Change in the telomere length distribution with age in the Japanese population. Mol. Cell. Biochem. 304, 353-360 (2007). (Pubitemid 47456884)
94. Hiyama K, Hirai Y, Kyoizumi S et al. Activation of telomerase in human lymphocytes and hematopoietic progenitor cells. J. Immunol. 155, 3711-3715 (1995).
95. Bodnar AG, Kim NW, Effros RB, Chiu CP. Mechanism of telomerase induction during T cell activation. Exp. Cell Res. 228, 58-64 (1996). (Pubitemid 26349713)
96. Weng NP, Levine BL, June CH, Hodes RJ. Regulated expression of telomerase activity in human T lymphocyte development and activation. J. Exp. Med. 183, 2471-2479 (1996). (Pubitemid 26192356)
97. Iancu EM, Speiser DE, Rufer N. Assessing ageing of individual T lymphocytes: mission impossible? Mech. Ageing Dev. 129, 67-78 (2008). (Pubitemid 351199861)
98. Rufer N, Migliaccio M, Antonchuk J, Humphries RK, Roosnek E, Lansdorp PM. Transfer of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene into T lymphocytes results in extension of replicative potential. Blood 98, 597-603 (2001).
99. Hooijberg E, Ruizendaal JJ, Snijders PJ, Kueter EW, Walboomers JM, Spits H. Immortalization of human CD8+ T cell clones by ectopic expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase. J. Immunol. 165, 4239-4245 (2000).
100. Dagarag M, Ng H, Lubong R, Effros RB, Yang OO. Differential impairment of lytic and cytokine functions in senescent human immunodeficiency virus type 1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. J. Virol. 77, 3077-3083 (2003). (Pubitemid 36228093)
101. Valenzuela HF, Effros RB. Divergent telomerase and CD28 expression patterns in human CD4 and CD8 T cells following repeated encounters with the same antigenic stimulus. Clin. Immunol. 105, 117-125 (2002). (Pubitemid 35471660)
102. von Zglinicki T. Oxidative stress shortens telomeres. Trends Biochem. Sci. 27, 339-344 (2002). (Pubitemid 34756516)
103. von Zglinicki T, Pilger R, Sitte N. Accumulation of single-strand breaks is the major cause of telomere shortening in human fibroblasts. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 28, 64-74 (2000). (Pubitemid 30045574)
104. Saretzki G, Murphy MP, von Zglinicki T. MitoQ counteracts telomere shortening and elongates lifespan of fibroblasts under mild oxidative stress. Aging Cell 2, 141-143 (2003).
105. Oikawa S, Tada-Oikawa S, Kawanishi S. Site-specific DNA damage at the GGG sequence by UVA involves acceleration of telomere shortening. Biochemistry 40, 4763-4768 (2001). (Pubitemid 32374664)
106. Petersen S, Saretzki G, von Zglinicki T. Preferential accumulation of single-stranded regions in telomeres of human fibroblasts. Exp. Cell Res. 239, 152-160 (1998). (Pubitemid 28368486)
107. Epel ES, Blackburn EH, Lin J et al. Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 17312-17315 (2004). (Pubitemid 39627816)
108. Valdes AM, Andrew T, Gardner JP et al. Obesity, cigarette smoking, and telomere length in women. Lancet 366, 662-664 (2005). (Pubitemid 41176019)
109. O'Donovan A, Pantell MS, Puterman E et al. Cumulative inflammatory load is associated with short leukocyte telomere length in the health, aging and body composition study. PLoS ONE 6, e19687 (2011).
110. Njajou OT, Hsueh WC, Blackburn EH. Association between telomere length, specific causes of death, and years of healthy life in health, aging, and body composition, a population-based cohort study. J. Gerontol. A. Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 64, 860-864 (2009).
111. Gorenne I, Kavurma M, Scott S, Bennett M. Vascular smooth muscle cell senescence in atherosclerosis. Cardiovasc. Res. 72, 9-17 (2006). (Pubitemid 44310633)
112. Ogami M, Ikura Y, Ohsawa M et al. Telomere shortening in human coronary artery diseases. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 24, 546-550 (2004). (Pubitemid 38326151)
113. Matthews C, Gorenne I, Scott S et al. Vascular smooth muscle cells undergo telomere-based senescence in human atherosclerosis: effects of telomerase and oxidative stress. Circ. Res. 99, 156-164 (2006). (Pubitemid 44297039)
114. Aviv A. Telomeres, sex, reactive oxygen species, and human cardiovascular aging. J. Mol. Med. 80, 689-695 (2002). (Pubitemid 35352034)
115. Slagboom PE, Droog S, Boomsma DI. Genetic determination of telomere size in humans: a twin study of three age groups. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 55, 876-882 (1994). (Pubitemid 24334278)
116. Wilson WR, Herbert KE, Mistry Y et al. Blood leucocyte telomere DNA content predicts vascular telomere DNA content in humans with and without vascular disease. Eur. Heart J. 29, 2689-2694 (2008).
117. Salpea KD, Nicaud V, Tiret L, Talmud PJ, Humphries SE. The association of telomere length with paternal history of premature myocardial infarction in the European Atherosclerosis Research Study II. J. Mol. Med. (Berl.) 86, 815-824 (2008).
118. Eisenberg DT, Salpea KD, Kuzawa CW, Hayes MG, Humphries SE. Substantial variation in qPCR measured mean blood telomere lengths in young men from eleven European countries. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 23, 228-231 (2011).
119. Codd V, Mangino M, van der Harst P et al. Common variants near TERC are associated with mean telomere length. Nat. Genet. 42, 197-199 (2010).
120. Njajou OT, Blackburn EH, Pawlikowska L et al. A common variant in the telomerase RNA component is associated with short telomere length. PLoS ONE 5, e13048 (2010).
121. Farzaneh-Far R, Lin J, Epel E, Lapham K, Blackburn E, Whooley MA. Telomere length trajectory and its determinants in persons with coronary artery disease: longitudinal findings from the heart and soul study. PLoS ONE 5, e8612 (2010).
122. Aviv A, Chen W, Gardner JP et al. Leukocyte telomere dynamics: longitudinal findings among young adults in the Bogalusa Heart Study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 169, 323-329 (2009).
123. Epel ES, Merkin SS, Cawthon R et al. The rate of leukocyte telomere shortening predicts mortality from cardiovascular disease in elderly men. Aging (Albany NY) 1, 81-88 (2009).
124. Spyridopoulos I, Haendeler J, Urbich C et al. Statins enhance migratory capacity by upregulation of the telomere repeat-binding factor TRF2 in endothelial progenitor cells. Circulation 110, 3136-3142 (2004). (Pubitemid 39492010)
125. Chen W, Kimura M, Kim S et al. Longitudinal versus cross-sectional evaluations of leukocyte telomere length dynamics: age-dependent telomere shortening is the rule. J. Gerontol. A. Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 66, 312-319 (2011).
126. Svenson U, Nordfjall K, Baird D et al. Blood cell telomere length is a dynamic feature. PLoS ONE 6, e21485 (2011).
127. Pawelec G, Derhovanessian E, Larbi A, Strindhall J, Wikby A. Cytomegalovirus and human immunosenescence. Rev. Med. Virol. 19, 47-56 (2009).
128. van de Berg PJ, Griffiths SJ, Yong SL et al. Cytomegalovirus infection reduces telomere length of the circulating T cell pool. J. Immunol. 184, 3417-3423 (2010).
129. Cawthon RM. Telomere length measurement by a novel monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method. Nucleic Acids Res. 37, e21 (2009).
130. Benetos A, Gardner JP, Zureik M et al. Short telomeres are associated with increased carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive subjects. Hypertension 43, 182-185 (2004). (Pubitemid 38174171)
131. Fitzpatrick AL, Kronmal RA, Gardner JP et al. Leukocyte telomere length and cardiovascular disease in the cardiovascular health study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 165, 14-21 (2006).
132. Kurz DJ, Kloeckener-Gruissem B, Akhmedov A et al. Degenerative aortic valve stenosis, but not coronary disease, is associated with shorter telomere length in the elderly. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 26, e114-e117 (2006). (Pubitemid 44305356)
133. Collerton J, Martin-Ruiz C, Kenny A et al. Telomere length is associated with left ventricular function in the oldest old: the Newcastle 85+ study. Eur. Heart J. 28, 172-176 (2007).
134. Cherkas LF, Hunkin JL, Kato BS et al. The association between physical activity in leisure time and leukocyte telomere length. Arch. Intern. Med. 168, 154-158 (2008). (Pubitemid 351185881)
135. De Meyer T, Rietzschel ER, De Buyzere ML et al. Systemic telomere length and preclinical atherosclerosis: the Asklepios Study. Eur. Heart J. 30, 3074-3081 (2009).
136. Vasan RS, Demissie S, Kimura M et al. Association of leukocyte telomere length with echocardiographic left ventricular mass: the Framingham heart study. Circulation 120, 1195-1202 (2009).
137. Kuznetsova T, Codd V, Brouilette S et al. Association between left ventricular mass and telomere length in a population study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 172, 440-450 (2010).
138. Panayiotou AG, Nicolaides AN, Griffin M et al. Leukocyte telomere length is associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis 211, 176-181 (2010).
139. Atturu G, Brouilette S, Samani NJ, London NJ, Sayers RD, Bown MJ. Short leukocyte telomere length is associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).Eur. J. Vasc. Endovasc. Surg. 39, 559-564 (2010).