A Percentage Analysis of the Telomere Length in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Abstract

Telomeres are the repeated sequences at the chromosome ends which undergo shortening with cell division. The telomere shortening of the peripheral leukocytes is also facilitated by enhanced oxidative stress in various kinds of disease including ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, apoplexy, and Alzheimer's disease. Telomere shortening in Parkinson's disease (PD) has not yet been reported. The pathogenesis for PD is also regarded to be associated with oxidative stress. We investigated 28 Japanese male PD patients ages 47-69. Although we could not find a statistical difference in the mean telomere length of peripheral leukocytes between the PD patients and the control participants, we found the mean telomere lengths to be shorter than 5 kb in only the PD patients and a significant PD-associated decrease in the telomeres with a length ranging from 23.1 to 9.4 kb in the patients in their 50s and 60s. These observations suggest that telomere shortening is accelerated in PD patients in comparison to the normal population.

Study of telomere length and different markers of oxidative stress in patients with Parkinson's disease

“…In a case-control study (96 cases and 172 age-matched controls), telomeres were not associated with the risk of PD (14). In a recent study by Guan et al (15), although the authors did not observe a statistical difference in mean telomere length of peripheral leukocytes between PD patients and control participants, a percentage analysis of telomere length suggested that telomere shortening was accelerated in PD patients in comparison to controls (15).…”

Diagonal Earlobe Crease are Associated With Shorter Telomere in Male Japanese Patients With Metabolic Syndrome A Pilot Study

“…4,5 Telomere length has been observed to decrease with increases in cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity and cigarette smoking. 6 We recently showed that the shortening of the telomeres in peripheral leukocytes was accelerated with advancing age 7 and it was also observed in patients with sarcoidosis 8 and Parkinson's disease 9 in the Japanese population.…”

An overview on the role of telomere , telomerase in degenerative diseases and cancer

“…In a study of 28 Japanese male PD patients, leucocyte telomere length in PD patients was not significant different from those in controls. But mean telomere length in PD patients was found to be 5 kb shorter suggesting telomere shortening was accelerated in PD patients [23]. Additionally, Maede et al [24] investigated the age-associated alterations of subtelomeric methylation in Japanese PD patients.…”