The DOI matches its Crossref record; 123 of the 123 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither?
Open accessAbstract
Telomeres are nucleoprotein caps flanking DNA. They are shortened by cell division and oxidative stress and are lengthened by the enzyme telomerase and DNA exchange during mitosis. Short telomeres induce cellular senescence. As an indicator of oxidative stress and senescence (2 processes thought to be fundamental to aging), telomere length is hypothesized to be a biomarker of aging. This hypothesis has been tested for more than a decade with epidemiologic study methods. In cross-sectional studies, researchers have investigated whether leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with demographic, behavioral, and health variables. In prospective studies, baseline LTL has been used to predict mortality and occasionally other adverse health outcomes. Conflicting data have generated heated debate about the value of LTL as a biomarker of overall aging. In this review, we address the epidemiologic data on LTL and demonstrate that shorter LTL is associated with older age, male gender, Caucasian race, and possibly atherosclerosis; associations with other markers of health are equivocal. We discuss the reasons for discrepancy across studies, including a detailed review of methods for measuring telomere length as they apply to epidemiology. Finally, we conclude with questions about LTL as a biomarker of aging and how epidemiology can be used to answer these questions.
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Cites
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“It is notable that cells also can senesce because of telomere-independent signaling, such as propagated DNA damage response, altered mitogenic signaling, and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor signaling, among others (31).”
BackgroundLife course epidemiology: Figure 1
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Cited by
DNA methylation-based biomarkers and the epigenetic clock theory of ageing
Horvath, S., & Raj, K. (2018) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41576-018-0004-3 · Cited by 3,095
Jylhävä, J., Pedersen, N. L., & Hägg, S. (2017) · EBioMedicine · doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.03.046 · Cited by 1,240
DNA methylation-based measures of biological age: meta-analysis predicting time to death
Chen, B. H., Marioni, R. E., Colicino, E., Peters, M. J., Ward-Caviness, C. K., Tsai, P.-C., Roetker, N. S., Just, A. C., Demerath, E. W., Guan, W., et al. (2016) · Aging · doi:10.18632/aging.101020 · Cited by 1,126
Leucocyte telomere length and risk of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis
Haycock, P. C., Heydon, E. E., Kaptoge, S., Butterworth, A. S., Thompson, A., & Willeit, P. (2014) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.g4227 · Cited by 856
Measuring biological aging in humans: a quest
Ferrucci, L., Gonzalez‐Freire, M., Fabbri, E., Simonsick, E., Tanaka, T., Moore, Z., Salimi, S., Sierra, F., & de Cabo, R. (2020) · Aging Cell · doi:10.1111/acel.13080 · Cited by 781
Metadata
- Authors
- Sanders, J. L., & Newman, A. B.
- Venue
- Epidemiologic Reviews
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-01-01
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 112-131
- ISSN
- 0193-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1478-6729
- OpenAlex
- W2144787350
- Cited by
- 537
- References
- 123
- FWCI
- 26.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Sanders, J. L., & Newman, A. B. (2013). Telomere Length in Epidemiology: A Biomarker of Aging, Age-Related Disease, Both, or Neither? Epidemiologic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxs008
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