title: Can Leukocyte Telomere Length Predict Survival Time in Heart Transplant Recipients over a Minimal Follow-Up of 20 years?
abstract: In humans, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) reduces with age and is reported to be inversely associated with ageing-related diseases. We measured LTL in leukocyte DNA using a quantitative PCR-based method from 127 blood samples of heart recipients (107 males, 20 females, age 44.1 ± 10.5), followed for up to 30 years. Patients with coronary artery disease survived for a shorter time and also had shorter LTL (both P < 0.05 after adjustment for age and sex) than subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy. Patients with non-cardiac causes of death had shorter LTL than patients with cardiac causes (P < 0.05 after adjustment for age). An inverse correlation between LTL and age (P < 0.03) was observed in patients with non-cardiac causes of death only. Most importantly, LTL was not associated with general survival time in patients after heart transplantation. However, shorter LTL was a marker of non-cardiac causes of death. Different LTLs and survival times were determined in association with aetiology of heart failure (HF).
authors.affiliation: Centre for Experimental Medicine, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dlouhá
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Complex Cardiovascular Centre, Charles University, Faculty of Medicine Pilsen and University Hospital in Pilsen, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vančura
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Centre, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vymětalová
authors.affiliation: Centre for Experimental Medicine, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hubáček
authors.affiliation: Medical Statistical Unit, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lánská
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Centre, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Málek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D016019:Survival Analysis; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis