Telomere shortening occurs in Asian Indian Type 2 diabetic patients.
OBJECTIVE
Telomere shortening has been reported in several diseases including atherosclerosis and Type 1 diabetes. Asian Indians have an increased predilection for Type 2 diabetes and premature coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether telomeric shortening occurs in Asian Indian Type 2 diabetic patients.


METHODS
Using Southern-blot analysis we determined mean terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length, a measure of average telomere size, in leucocyte DNA. Type 2 diabetic patients without any diabetes-related complications (n = 40) and age- and sex-matched control non-diabetic subjects (n = 40) were selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES). Plasma level of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of lipid peroxidation, was measured by TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) using a fluorescence method.


RESULTS
Mean (+/- SE) TRF lengths of the Type 2 diabetic patients (6.01 +/- 0.2 kb) were significantly shorter than those of the control subjects (9.11 +/- 0.6 kb) (P = 0.0001). Among the biochemical parameters, only levels of TBARS showed a negative correlation with shortened telomeres in the diabetic subjects (r = -0.36; P = 0.02). However, telomere lengths were negatively correlated with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = -0.4; P = 0.01) and age (r = -0.3; P = 0.058) and positively correlated with HDL levels (r = 0.4; P = 0.01) in the control subjects. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis revealed diabetes to be significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with shortening of TRF lengths.


CONCLUSIONS
Telomere shortening occurs in Asian Indian Type 2 diabetic patients.
Adaikalakoteswari
A
A
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Gopalapuram, Chennai, India.
Balasubramanyam
M
M
Mohan
V
V
D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000235:genetics; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics*; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / Q000032:analysis
D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; D002784:Cholesterol