The age-dependent association between aortic pulse wave velocity and telomere length.
Ageing is associated with marked large artery stiffening. Telomere shortening, a marker of cellular ageing, is linked with arterial stiffening. However, the results of existing studies are inconsistent, possibly because of the confounding influence of variable exposure to cardiovascular risk factors. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between telomere length (TL) and aortic stiffness in well-characterized, younger and older healthy adults, who were pre-selected on the basis of having either low or high aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), a robust measure of aortic stiffness. Demographic, haemodynamic and biochemical data were drawn from participants in the Anglo-Cardiff Collaborative Trial. Two age groups with an equal sex ratio were examined: those aged <30 years (younger) or >50 years (older). Separately for each age group and sex, DNA samples representing the highest (n = 125) and lowest (n = 125) extremes of aPWV (adjusted for blood pressure) were selected for analysis of leukocyte TL. Ultimately, this yielded complete phenotypic data on 904 individuals. In younger subjects, TL was significantly shorter in those with high aPWV vs. those with low aPWV (P = 0.017). By contrast, in older subjects, TL was significantly longer in those with high aPWV (P = 0.001). Age significantly modified the relationship between aPWV and TL (P < 0.001). Differential relationships are observed between aPWV and TL, with an inverse association in younger individuals and a positive association in older individuals. The links between cellular and vascular ageing reflect a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors acting over the life-course.
Funding
Professor Ian B. Wilkinson is a British Heart Foundation Senior Fellow (FS/12/8/29377). Dr Yasmin is supported by the British Heart Foundation (FS/12/8/29377). This work was also supported by the National Institute for Health Research, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre Award.
History
Published in
The Journal of PhysiologyPublisher
WileyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Citation
McDonnell, B.J., Yasmin, Butcher, L., Cockcroft, J.R., Wilkinson, I.B., Erusalimsky, J.D. and McEniery, C.M. (2017) 'The age dependent association between aortic pulse wave velocity and telomere length', The Journal of Physiology, 595 (5), pp.1627-1635.Electronic ISSN
1469-7793Cardiff Met Affiliation
- Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences
Cardiff Met Authors
Barry McDonnell Lee Butcher Jorge D. ErusalimskyCardiff Met Research Centre/Group
- Cardiovascular Physiology
Copyright Holder
- © The Authors
Language
- en