Shortened telomere length in bipolar disorder: a comparison of the early and late stages of disease

Abstract

Objective: Bipolar disorder (BD) has been associated with increased rates of age-related diseases, such as type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disorders. Several biological findings have been associated with age-related disorders, including increased oxidative stress, inflammation, and telomere shortening. The objective of this study was to compare telomere length among participants with BD at early and late stages and age-and gender-matched healthy controls. Methods: Twenty-six euthymic subjects with BD and 34 healthy controls were recruited. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and mean telomere length was measured using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: Telomere length was significantly shorter in both the early and late subgroups of BD subjects when compared to the respective controls (p = 0.002 and p = 0.005, respectively). The sample size prevented additional subgroup analyses, including potential effects of medication, smoking status, and lifestyle. Conclusion: This study is concordant with previous evidence of telomere shortening in BD, in both early and late stages of the disorder, and supports the notion of accelerated aging in BD.

Analyzing leukocyte telomere length in bipolar disorder

“…1 Their results support the theory of accelerated aging in BD, even present since the early stages of the disease.…”

“…The authors reported that all but three patients were on polytherapy, but due to the sample size they could not explore LTL and type/number of medications. 1 Second, is this ''propensity'' for shorter LTL at early stages of BD genetically predetermined? The family history of patients is not mentioned in this article.…”

Cell-based immunotherapy with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells: From preparation and testing to clinical application

“…[43][44][45] Therefore, it is necessary to study aging during CIK cell proliferation and self-renewal by monitoring the activity or magnitude of telomeres on day 0, 7, and day 14. [46][47][48][49] Although there is no significant evidence to suggest the correlation between the efficiency of tumor immunotherapy and the age of CIK cells, understanding of this correlation is important for the effective development of CIK cell-based immunotherapy.…”

Telomere length as a predictor of emotional processing in the brain

“…Faster shortening of telomeres has been found after life stress (Epel et al, 2004), exposure to violence during childhood (Shalev et al, 2013), experiencing highly disadvantaged environments (Mitchell et al, 2014) and early life adversity (Ridout et al, 2018). Short TL in psychiatry has been linked primarily to patients suffering from major depressive disorder (Hartmann, Boehner, Groenen, & Kalb, 2010;Lung, Chen, & Shu, 2007;Monroy-Jaramillo, Dyukova, & Walss-Bass, 2017;Ridout, Ridout, Price, Sen, & Tyrka, 2016;Schutte & Malouff, 2015), post-traumatic disorder (Lindqvist et al, 2015;Shalev et al, 2013), anxiety disorders (Monroy-Jaramillo et al, 2017;Shalev et al, 2013) and bipolar disorder (Barbé-Tuana et al, 2016;Lima et al, 2015). However, not all patients have shortened TL, and evidence suggests that TL may actually be marking the effects of specific environmental risk factors for psychiatric disorders, or the severity of specific cognitive biases or symptoms, rather than representing a definitive case/control predictor (Elvsåshagen et al, 2011;Powell, Dima, Frangou, & Breen, 2018;Vincent et al, 2017).…”