title: Questioning causal involvement of telomeres in aging.
abstract: Multiple studies have demonstrated that telomere length predicts mortality and that telomeres shorten with age. Although rarely acknowledged these associations do not dictate causality. I review telomerase knockout and overexpression studies and find little support that telomeres cause aging. In addition, the causality hypothesis assumes that there is a critical telomere length at which senescence is induced. This generates the prediction that variance in telomere length decreases with age. In contrast, using meta-analysis of human data, I find no such decline. Inferring the causal involvement of telomeres in aging from current knowledge is therefore speculative and could hinder scientific progress.
authors: Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, Sheffield, United Kingdom. Electronic address: mirresimons@gmail.com.
authors: Mirre J P
authors: MJ
authors: Simons
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D015984:Causality; D015991:Epidemiologic Measurements; D006801:Humans; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D059506:Telomere Shortening / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Epidemiology; Human; Meta-analysis; Mortality; Senescence; Telomere length