| 1. |
- Wikgren, Mikael, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
APOE ε4 is associated with longer telomeres, and longer telomeres among ε4 carriers predicts worse episodic memory
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Neurobiology of Aging. - : Elsevier. - 0197-4580 .- 1558-1497. ; 33:2, s. 335-344
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both leukocyte telomere length and the apolipoprotein ε4 allele have been associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, cognition, and dementia. The authors investigated whether leukocyte telomere length was associated with APOE genotype or cognitive abilities in the context of APOE genotype. The setting for this cross-sectional study was 427 nondemented individuals aged 41–81 yr. The authors found that ε4 carriers overall exhibited significantly longer telomeres compared with non-carriers (difference of 268 bp, p = 0.001). This difference was greatest at the lower limit of the age span and nonsignificant at the upper limit, which translated into a significantly higher telomere attrition rate (p = 0.049) among ε4 carriers (37 bp/years) compared with non-carriers (21 bp/year). Further, longer telomeres among ε4 carriers significantly predicted worse performance on episodic memory tasks. No significant associations were found on tasks tapping semantic and visuospatial ability, or among ε3/ε3 carriers. In conclusion, APOE ε4 carriers had longer telomeres compared with non-carriers, but higher rate of attrition. Among them, longer telomeres predicted worse performance on episodic memory tasks. These observations suggest that the ε4 allele is associated with abnormal cell turnover of functional and possibly clinical significance.
|
|
| 2. |
- Wikgren, Mikael, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Short Telomeres in Depression and the General Population Are Associated with a Hypocortisolemic State
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Biological Psychiatry. - New York : Elsevier. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 71:4, s. 294-300
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a central role in stress regulation, and leukocyte telomere length (TL) has been suggested to represent a cumulative measure of stress. Depression is intimately related with stress and frequently exhibits a dysregulated HPA axis. We aimed to study the relationships between TL and biological and psychological facets of stress in recurrent major depressive disorder and controls. Methods Leukocyte TL was measured in 91 subjects with recurrent major depressive disorder and 451 control subjects. Stress was assessed from both a biological perspective, by assessing HPA axis function with a weight-adjusted very-low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (DST), and a psychological perspective, with self-report questionnaires. Results TL was shorter among patients compared with control subjects (277 base pairs, p = .001). Overall, short TL was associated with a hypocortisolemic state (low post-DST cortisol and high percentage of cortisol reduction after the DST) among both patients and control subjects but more pronounced among patients. This state, which was overrepresented among patients, was characterized by high familial loading of affective disorders among patients (p = .001) and high C-reactive protein levels among control subjects (p = .040). TL was also inversely associated with stress measured with the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (rs = −.258, p = .003). Conclusions Short TL is associated with depression and hypocortisolism. Because hypocortisolism has been shown to develop from chronic stress exposure, our findings corroborate the concept of TL as a cumulative measure of stress and provide novel insights into the detrimental role of stress in depressive illness and the general population.
|
|
| 3. |
- Wu, Xuping, et al.
(författare)
-
Telomerase antagonist imetelstat inhibits esophageal cancer cell growth and increases radiation-induced DNA breaks
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. Molecular Cell Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-4889 .- 1879-2596. ; 1823:12, s. 2130-2135
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Telomerase is mainly active in human tumor cells, which provides an opportunity for a therapeutic window on telomerase targeting. We sought to evaluate the potential of the thio-phosphoramidate oligonucleotide inhibitor of telomerase, imetelstat, as a drug candidate for treatment of esophageal cancer. Our results showed that imetelstat inhibited telomerase activity in a dose-dependent manner in esophageal cancer cells. After only 1. week of imetelstat treatment, a reduction of colony formation ability of esophageal cancer cells was observed. Furthermore, long-term treatment with imetelstat decreased cell growth of esophageal cancer cells with different kinetics regarding telomere lengths. Short-term imetelstat treatment also increased γ-H2AX and 53BP1 foci staining in the esophageal cancer cell lines indicating a possible induction of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). We also found that pre-treatment with imetelstat led to increased number and size of 53BP1 foci after ionizing radiation. The increase of 53BP1 foci number was especially pronounced during the first 1 h of repair whereas the increase of foci size was prominent later on. This study supports the potential of imetelstat as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of esophageal cancer.
|
|
