title: Is there a connection between inflammation, telomerase activity and the transcriptional status of telomerase reverse transcriptase in renal failure?
abstract: Telomerase is involved in the elongation of telomeres. It remains active in very few types of cell in mature organisms. One such cell type is the lymphocytes. In this study, we investigated the activity and expression of telomerase in lymphocytes from renal failure patients and compared it to that for normal controls. Inflammation status was determined at the same time. The enzyme activity was measured using PCR-ELISA with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from three groups: 53 healthy individuals, 50 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 50 dialysis patients. In the same cell populations, the expression of the reverse transcriptase of the human telomerase gene (hTERT) was measured via real-time PCR. The inflammationstatus of these individuals was determined by calculating the interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-10, C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) serum concentrations via ELISA. The lowest levels of telomerase activity were detected in CKD, and this group had the highest IL-6 and CRP values and the lowest hTERT expression. The dialysis group showed significant differences in comparison to the normal subjects and to the CKD patients. Further studies are warranted in order to explore the way inflammation influences telomerase activity and hTERT expression.
authors.forename: Vasileios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kordinas
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsirpanlis
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nicolaou
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoga
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ioannidis
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ioannidou
authors.forename: Sotiris
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bersimis
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petrihou
authors.forename: Lefkothea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Savva
authors.forename: Nicholaos J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Legakis
authors.forename: Stylianos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatzipanagiotou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057075:Enzyme Assays; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase