The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Telomere length predicts replicative capacity of human fibroblasts.
Open accessAbstract
When human fibroblasts from different donors are grown in vitro, only a small fraction of the variation in their finite replicative capacity is explained by the chronological age of the donor. Because we had previously shown that telomeres, the terminal guanine-rich sequences of chromosomes, shorten throughout the life-span of cultured cells, we wished to determine whether variation in initial telomere length would account for the unexplained variation in replicative capacity. Analysis of cells from 31 donors (aged 0-93 yr) indicated relatively weak correlations between proliferative ability and donor age (m = -0.2 doubling per yr; r = -0.42; P = 0.02) and between telomeric DNA and donor age (m = -15 base pairs per yr; r = -0.43; P = 0.02). However, there was a striking correlation, valid over the entire age range of the donors, between replicative capacity and initial telomere length (m = 10 doublings per kilobase pair; r = 0.76; P = 0.004), indicating that cell strains with shorter telomeres underwent significantly fewer doublings than those with longer telomeres. These observations suggest that telomere length is a biomarker of somatic cell aging in humans and are consistent with a causal role for telomere loss in this process. We also found that fibroblasts from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria donors had short telomeres, consistent with their reduced division potential in vitro. In contrast, telomeres from sperm DNA did not decrease with age of the donor, suggesting that a mechanism for maintaining telomere length, such as telomerase expression, may be active in germ-line tissue.
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“In human male germ cells, telomere lengths remain stable or even elongate with age3.”
From The telomere syndromes (2012) · cites this paper as [3]
In the citing paper
“A total lifetime loss of ~2-4 kb in average telomere length has been observed in human cells8-10.”
From Telomere dysfunction and tumour suppression: the senescence connection (2008) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“As a consequence, telomere attrition gradually appears with increasing number of cell divisions, triggering replicative senescence [2, 48].”
From Senescence-related impairment of autophagy induces toxic intraneuronal amyloid-β accumulation in a mouse model of amyloid pathology (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“telomere length has been shown to predict the replicative capacity of human cells and the appearance of certain age-associated pathologies in humans 54, 55”
From The common biology of cancer and ageing (2007) · cites this paper as [54]
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Self-citationTRF2 Protects Human Telomeres from End-to-End Fusions
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Metadata
- Authors
- Allsopp, R. C., Vaziri, H., Patterson, C., Goldstein, S., Younglai, E. V., Futcher, A. B., Greider, C. W., & Harley, C. B.
- Affiliations
- McMaster University (CA)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 1992-11
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 10114-10118
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC50288
- OpenAlex
- W1998663807
- Cited by
- 2,200
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 60 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 82 · 2013: 68 · 2012: 74
- FWCI
- 15.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Institutional Repository (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- McMaster University
- Medical Research Council Canada
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ag008708-05)
- Medical Research Council
- National Institute on Aging (AG09383, AG08708)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nuclear Structure and Function
- Keywords
- telomere length, replicative capacity, human fibroblasts, telomere shortening, telomerase, chronological age
- MeSH terms
- Base Sequence, Cell Division, Cells, Cultured, DNA, Fibroblasts, Humans, Male, Progeria, Reference Values, Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid, Skin, Skin Physiological Phenomena, Spermatozoa, Skin Aging, Telomere
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