Abstract
Telomeres protect the integrity of information-carrying DNA by serving as caps on the terminal portions of chromosomes. Telomere length decreases with aging, and this contributes to cell senescence. Recent evidence supports that telomere length of leukocytes and skeletal muscle cells may be positively associated with healthy living and inversely correlated with the risk of several age-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, and stress. In observational studies, higher levels of physical activity or exercise are related to longer telomere lengths in various populations, and athletes tend to have longer telomere lengths than non-athletes. This relationship is particularly evident in older individuals, suggesting a role of physical activity in combating the typical age-induced decrements in telomere length. To date, a small number of exercise interventions have been executed to examine the potential influence of chronic exercise on telomere length, but these studies have not fully established such relationship. Several potential mechanisms through which physical activity or exercise could affect telomere length are discussed, including changes in telomerase activity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and decreased skeletal muscle satellite cell content. Future research is needed to mechanistically examine the effects of various modalities of exercise on telomere length in middle-aged and older adults, as well as in specific clinical populations.
Highlights
Telomeres protect the integrity of informationcarrying DNA throughout cell cycle by serving as specialized DNA caps on chromosomes
Observational studies examining the potential relationship between physical activity/exercise and telomere length in skeletal muscle cells and leukocytes are summarized in Table 1 [42,43,44] and Table 2 [45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62], respectively
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses showed no significant associations between physical activity and leukocyte telomere length
Summary
Telomeres protect the integrity of informationcarrying DNA throughout cell cycle by serving as specialized DNA caps on chromosomes. Observational studies examining the potential relationship between physical activity/exercise and telomere length in skeletal muscle cells and leukocytes are summarized in Table 1 [42,43,44] and Table 2 [45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62], respectively These studies were conducted in a broad set of individuals, including men and women, young to older adults, and healthy and chronically ill individuals. It is likely that telomere lengths in sedentary young adults have not yet experience attrition, but may eventually being www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget
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