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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Thomas von Zglinicki, Dr Gabriele Saretzki
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Progressive cerebrovascular atherosclerosis and consecutive stroke are among the most common causes of dementia. However, specific risk factors for vascular dementia are still not known. Human telomeres shorten with each cell division in vitro and with donor age in vivo. In human fibroblasts in vitro, the telomere shortening rate decreased with increasing antioxidative capacity. There was a good intra-individual correlation between the age-corrected telomere lengths in fibroblasts and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In 186 individuals including 149 geriatric patients (age range, 55-98 yr), leukocyte telomeres in patients with probable or possible vascular dementia were significantly shorter than in three age-matched control groups, namely in cognitively competent patients suffering from cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disease alone, in patients with probable Alzheimer's dementia, and in apparently healthy control subjects. No correlation was found to polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E and glutathione-S-transferase genes. Telomere length may be an independent predictor for the risk of vascular dementia.
Author(s): Saretzki G; von Zglinicki T; Serra V; Lorenz M; Lenzen-Grossimlighaus R; Gessner R; Risch A; Steinhagen-Thiessen E
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Laboratory Investigation
Year: 2000
Volume: 80
Issue: 11
Pages: 1739-1747
ISSN (print): 0023-6837
ISSN (electronic): 1530-0307
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: http://www.nature.com/labinvest/journal/v80/n11/abs/3780184a.html
