title: Longitudinal Telomere Erosion in Lymphocyte Subsets of Patients with Atherosclerotic Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).
abstract: Telomere attrition has been linked to accelerate vascular ageing and seems to predispose for vascular disease. Our aim was to study the telomere length dynamics over time and in subsets of leukocytes from 15 patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The mean telomere length in subsets of leukocytes of patients with PAD was in the normal range of age-related telomere length values from healthy individuals. However, we found significant higher telomere attrition for T-cells from patients with PAD over a time period of six months when compared to the controls. The higher telomere loss in T-cells of patients with PAD most likely reflects a higher cell turnover of this leukocyte subset, which is involved in the process of chronic inflammatory disease underlying vascular disease. Further studies are needed to confirm these data and to assess how far this T-cell telomere attrition will correlate to the extent of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Hematology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern Switzerland; Department of Hematology, University Hospital/Inselspital Bern , Bern, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Beer
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Interventional Angiology, University Hospital Bern , Bern .
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Völzmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Interventional Angiology, University Hospital Bern , Bern .
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kalka
authors.affiliation: Experimental Hematology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern Switzerland; Department of Hematology, University Hospital/Inselspital Bern , Bern, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Gabriela M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Baerlocher
keywords: Arteriosclerosis; CAD; PAD; Telomere length