Leukocyte telomere length correlates with glucose control in adults with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes

Telomeres are protein-bound regions of repetitive nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG) at the end of human chromosomes, and their length is a marker of cellular aging. Intrauterine growth restriction is associated with shorter blood cell telomeres at birth and individuals with type 2 diabetes have shorter telomeres. Individuals with a low birth weight (LBW) have an increased risk of metabolic disease and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between birth weight and telomere length and the association between birth weight, telomere length and cardiometabolic phenotype in adulthood. Young, healthy men with LBW (n = 55) and normal birth weight (NBW) (n = 65) were examined including blood pressure, blood samples and body composition. Leukocyte telomere length was determined using a high-throughput qPCR method. The LBW men were more insulin resistant as determined by the HOMA-IR index. There was no difference in telomere length between LBW and NBW subjects. When adjusting for birth weight and cohort effect, significant negative associations between telomere length and fasting glucose (P = 0.003) and HbA1c (P = 0.0008) were found. In conclusion, no significant difference in telomere length was found between LBW and NBW men. The telomere length was negatively associated with glucose concentrations and HbA1c levels within the normal non-diabetic range independent of birth weight.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Leukocyte telomere length is associated with elevated plasma glucose and HbA1c in young healthy men independent of birth weight

Grunnet

Pilgaard

Alibegovic

et al. 2019

“…Since shortening of telomere lengths is influenced by stress, one can speculate a compelling link between age-associated disorders and telomere length. Short LTL has been associated with several pathological conditions affecting variety of organ systems in the human body such as bone marrow causing aplastic anemia 10 , competency of the immune system 11 , type 2 diabetes 12 , or childhood autism 13 . The study performed in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy reported shorter telomere length in the circulating leukocytes of patients which correlated well with telomere length and functionality of their bone-marrow 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leukocyte telomere length correlates with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy severity

Chatterjee

Gonzalo-Calvo

Derda

et al. 2018

Telomere length is a marker of biological aging. Short leukocyte telomere length has been associated with various conditions including cardiovascular disorders. Here, we evaluated if patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have altered leukocyte telomere length and whether this is associated with disease severity. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based method was used to measure peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length in 59 healthy control subjects and a well-characterized cohort of 88 patients diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: 32 patients with non-obstructive cardiomyopathy (HNCM) and 56 patients with obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). We observed shorter leukocyte telomeres in both HNCM and HOCM patients compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, leukocyte telomere length was inversely associated with HCM even after adjusting for age and sex. Telomere length of HOCM patients was also inversely correlated with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Therefore, HOCM patients were categorized by tertiles of telomere length. Patients in the first tertile (shortest telomeres) had a significantly increased left ventricular posterior wall thickness at end-diastole and higher left ventricular outflow tract gradients, whereas the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was lower compared with patients in the second and third tertile. In summary, telomere length is associated with the severity of the disease in the HOCM subtype.

“…Telomere attrition pathway has been associated with many complex disorders including T2D 10,11 . Various functional studies have implicated telomere attrition in insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, obesity, inflammation 12 as well as it has been found as an independent risk factor for T2D 13,14 . In fact, T2D and telomere attrition share common environmental risk factors including stress, less physical activity, and sedentary life style 15 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere Maintenance Genes are associated with Type 2 Diabetes Susceptibility in Northwest Indian Population Group

Sethi

Sharma

et al. 2020

Telomere length attrition has been implicated in various complex disorders including Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). However, very few candidate gene association studies have been carried out worldwide targeting telomere maintenance genes. in the present study, variants in various critical telomere maintenance pathway genes for T2D susceptibility in Northwest Indian population were explored. With case-control candidate gene association study design, twelve variants from seven telomere maintenance genes were evaluated. Amongst these five variants, rs9419958 (OBFC1), rs4783704 (TERF2), rs16847897 (TERC/ LRRC31), rs10936599 (TERC/MYNN), and rs74019828 (CSNK2A2) showed significant association with T2D (at p-value ≤ 0.003, threshold set after Bonferroni correction) in the studied population. In silico analyses of these variants indicated interesting functional roles that warrant experimental validations. Findings showed that variants in telomere maintenance genes are associated with pathogenesis of T2D in Northwest Indian population. We anticipate further, such candidate gene association studies in other Indian populations and worldwide would contribute in understanding the missing heritability of T2D.