Association of shorter mean telomere length with large artery stiffness in patients with coronary heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Accumulating evidence implicates leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening as a potential risk predictor for cardiovascular disease. Arterial stiffness chronicles the cumulative burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Therefore, the capacity of LTL to predict arterial stiffness was examined.


METHODS
A total of 275 unrelated Chinese males: 163 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 112 healthy controls, 40-73 years of age were included in this study. The relative telomere length of leukocytes was determined by a real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Large artery stiffness was measured with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV).


RESULTS
The relative telomere length (T/S) ratio was significantly shorter in patients with CAD (0.79 +/- 0.26) than in control subjects (1.08 +/- 0.22) (p<0.001). The correlation between LTL and PWV in patients with CAD was stronger than that in the controls (r= -0.467, r(2)=0.227, p<0.001 for patients with CAD versus r= -0.223; r(2)=0.050; p=0.018 for controls). The log(e)-transformed T/S ratio was inversely correlated with age (r= -0.345; p<0.001), PWV (r= -0.326; p<0.001) and C-reactive protein ( r= -0.133; p=0.027).


CONCLUSIONS
The data show an association of leukocyte telomere length shortening with increased arterial stiffness and cardiovascular burden, suggesting that telomere length is a biomarker of large artery elasticity and CAD. Further studies are warranted to study the role of LTL dynamics in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Department of Medical Genetics, Affiliated Qingdao Municipal Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College, Qingdao, Shandong, 266011, PR China.
Yun-Ying
YY
Wang
Ai-Fang
AF
Chen
Hua-Zhang
HZ
Wang
Li-Yan
LY
Xie
Ke-Xu
KX
Sui
Qi-Yi
QY
Zhang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012307:Risk Factors; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics*; D014463:Ultrasonography
D002097:C-Reactive Protein