title: Accelerated leukocyte telomere erosion in schizophrenia: Evidence from the present study and a meta-analysis.
abstract: Human telomeres consist of tandem nucleotide repeats (TTAGGG) and associated proteins, and telomere length (TL) is reduced progressively with cell division over the lifespan. Telomere erosion might be accelerated or prevented to varying degrees when exposure to serious medical illnesses. In previous studies, an association between TL decrease and schizophrenia has been extensively reported; however, the results remain largely controversial. To further investigate TL in schizophrenia patients and reconcile this controversy, we first measured leucocyte TL (LTL) in our samples (52 paranoid schizophrenia, 89 non-paranoid patients and 120 controls), and then conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of the existing results of LTL in patients of schizophrenia compared to healthy subjects. Totally, 11 studies encompassing 1243 patients of schizophrenia and 1274 controls were included in the final meta-analysis model. In our samples, significant reduction of LTL in paranoid schizophrenia was observed compared to controls (F = 50.88, P < 0.001); whereas there was no significant difference in LTL between non-paranoid schizophrenia and controls (F = 0.842, P = 0.360). For meta-analysis, random-effects model showed significant LTL decrease in patients of schizophrenia when compared to controls (Z = 2.07, P = 0.039, SMD = -0.48, 95% CI = -0.94 to -0.03). Moreover, a marginal decrease in LTL was observed in medicated patients (Z = 1.92, P = 0.055, SMD = -0.58, 95% CI = -1.18-0.01) and those patients with poor response to antipsychotics (Z = 1.76, P = 0.078, SMD = -0.60, 95% CI = -1.27-0.07). In conclusion, we observed significant reduction of LTL in individuals with schizophrenia compared with controls. However, all the studies included in the meta-analysis were cross-sectional, and better controlled long-term studies are needed to replicate this result.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Applied Biology, School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China. Electronic address: shuquan_rao@163.com.
authors.forename: Shuquan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Lakshmi Narayanan
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Kota
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, The Second Xiangya Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, China.
authors.forename: Zongchang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Fundamental Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, The Second Xiangya Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, China.
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Applied Biology, School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.
authors.forename: Canquan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, First Clinical Medical College/First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030000, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100005, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D059506:Telomere Shortening
keywords: Disease status; Meta-analysis; Paranoid; Schizophrenia; Telomere length