No association between telomere length and blood cell counts in elderly individuals.
BACKGROUND
Telomeres play a crucial role in maintaining the physical integrity of chromosomes. Telomere length (TL) is severely reduced in individuals with dyskeratosis congenita and a number of other bone marrow failure syndromes. The TL of healthy individuals is highly variable, but shortens with age. It is presently unclear if variations in TL observed in normal aging individuals affect significantly their hematopoietic reserve. Method We studied the correlation between leukocyte age-adjusted TL (aTL) and blood cell parameters (total leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, lymphocytes, hemoglobin, and platelets) in a large cohort (n=717) of women aged 38-100 years. Result We did not find any significant correlation between aTL and blood counts.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that the aTL of aging individuals is not significantly predictive of their hematopoietic reserve, which implies that TL measurement may not be clinically useful in the selection of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation donors.
Mollica
Luigina
L
Research Centre, Department of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, and University of Montreal, 5415 de l'Assomption Boulevard, Montreal, Canada H1T 2M4.
Fleury
Isabelle
I
Belisle
Claude
C
Provost
Sylvie
S
Roy
Denis-Claude
DC
Busque
Lambert
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016615:Telomere