Telomere Length Inversely Correlates With Pulse Pressure and Is Highly Familial

There is evidence that telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, serve as clocks that pace cellular aging in vitro and in vivo. In industrialized nations, pulse pressure rises with age, and it might serve as a phenotype of biological aging of the vasculature. We therefore conducted a twin study to investi...

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Published inHypertension (Dallas, Tex. 1979) Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 195 - 200
Main Authors Jeanclos, Elisabeth, Schork, Nicholas J, Kyvik, Kirsten O, Kimura, Masayuki, Skurnick, Joan H, Aviv, Abraham
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia, PA American Heart Association, Inc 01.08.2000
Hagerstown, MD Lippincott
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension
Biological and medical sciences
Blood and lymphatic vessels
Blood Pressure - genetics
Blood Pressure - physiology
Cardiology. Vascular system
Clinical manifestations. Epidemiology. Investigative techniques. Etiology
Diastole
DNA - genetics
Family Health
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Multivariate Analysis
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Pulse
Regression Analysis
Systole
Telomere - genetics
Human
Hypertension
Length
Pulse
Cardiovascular disease
Arterial pressure
Genetic determinism
Telomere
Twin
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Summary:There is evidence that telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, serve as clocks that pace cellular aging in vitro and in vivo. In industrialized nations, pulse pressure rises with age, and it might serve as a phenotype of biological aging of the vasculature. We therefore conducted a twin study to investigate the relation between telomere length in white blood cells and pulse pressure while simultaneously assessing the role of genetic factors in determining telomere length. We measured by Southern blot analysis the mean length of the terminal restriction fragments (TRF) in white blood cells of 49 twin pairs from the Danish Twin Register and assessed the relations of blood pressure parameters with TRF. TRF length showed an inverse relation with pulse pressure. Both TRF length and pulse pressure were highly familial. We conclude that telomere length, which is under genetic control, might play a role in mechanisms that regulate pulse pressure, including vascular aging.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0194-911X
1524-4563
DOI:10.1161/01.HYP.36.2.195