Telomere Length Variation in Juvenile Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) provides a potential marker of biological age, closely related to the endothelial dysfunction and consequently to the atherosclerotic process. To investigate the relationship between the LTL and the risk of premature acute myocardial infarction and to evaluate the predictive value of LTL on the onset of major cardiovascular events, 199 patients from 18 to 48 years old with first diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction were enrolled and were matched with 190 controls for sex and age (±1 year). Clinical data and coronary artery disease were evaluated at enrollment and at follow up. LTL was measured at enrollment using a quantitative PCR-based method. No significant differences were observed in LTL between cases and controls (p = 0.20) and with the presence of coronary artery disease in patients (p = 0.47). Hypercholesterolemic cases presented LTL significantly longer than cases without hypercholesterolemia (t/s: 0.82±0.16 p = 0.79 and t/s norm: 0.79±0.19 p = 0.01), as confirmed in multivariate regression analysis (p = 0.005, β = 0.09). Furthermore, multivariate regression analysis showed LTL significantly shorter in hypertensive cases than in normotensive cases (p = 0.04, β = −0.07). One hundred seventy-one cases (86%) ended the average follow up of 9±5 years, 92 (54%) presented a major cardiovascular event. At multivariate regression analysis the LTL detected at enrollment did not represent a predictive factor of major cardiovascular events nor it significantly impacted with cumulative events. Based on present cohort of young Italian patients, the LTL did not represent a marker of acute myocardial infarction nor had a predictive role at medium term follow up.

Leucocyte telomere length and risk of cardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…After detailed assessments, 26 articles/unpublished reports, corresponding to 24 independent studies, were found to meet the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. 14 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 …”

Leukocyte Telomere Length as a Molecular Biomarker of Coronary Heart Disease

“…Russo et al [ 69 ] found no statistically significant association between relative LTL and the risk of AMI in an Italian cohort of younger patients (≤ 48 years).…”

“…Studies of relative LTL in patients with AMI (predominantly) and with stable CAD (to a lesser extent) are in their infancy. Such studies are still in the minority, the sample sizes are small, and the results obtained in some studies are contradictory [ 60 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. The ethnic and racial heterogeneity of the samples in the publications we analyzed draws attention, which does not allow us to assess the additional influences of ethnicity and region of residence of adults with and without the studied CVDs on the absolute and relative LTL.…”

Role of Telomeres Shortening in Atherogenesis: An Overview

“…However, data does not always have logical explanations: LTL was not identified as a marker of acute myocardial infarction and also as a predictor at medium-term follow-up in the study of a cohort of young Italian patients [ 58 ].…”