Expanding the Concept of Telomere Dysfunction in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Cellular repair and regeneration are considered important features of cardiovascular homeostasis. Exhaustion of these processes and replicative senescence during aging may promote cardiovascular diseases.1 This concept has recently received support from studies that used telomere length as a marker of biological aging and predictor of replicative senescence.1 Further studies show that shorter telomere length, which indicates older cells, is associated with several types of cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis2 and heart failure3 (Figure). Most of the studies to date have used white blood cell telomere length as a marker of ageing, but these might not necessarily be the most relevant cells to study. Figure. A, Telomeres (red) are located on the extreme ends of the chromosome (green). B, Hypothetical effects on BM stem cells, lymphocytes, and granulocytes of known factors determining telomere length, include replicative stress, risk factors (eg, oxidative stress), and the strong genetic determinant. C, The potential levels on which the association between telomere length and the cardiovascular disease continuum (D) may lie. BM indicates bone marrow; WBC, white blood cells, CAD, coronary artery disease; CHF, chronic heart failure. See accompanying article on page 968 There is evidence that cells originating from …