Reduced Fetal Telomere Length in Gestational Diabetes

Jian Xu,Minyue Dong,Xiaoqun Ye,Hanzhi Wang,Hefeng Huang,Junyi Ye,Hong Zhang,Yun Liu,Yanting Wu,Cong Han,Jing He,Qiong Luo,Martin Gerbert Frasch

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086161

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an important complication of pregnancy that poses significant threats to women and their offspring. Telomere length shortens as cellular damage increases and is associated with metabolic diseases. Telomere length in fetal leucocytes was determined in 82 infants of women with GDM (N = 82) and 65 normal pregnant women (N = 65). Women with preeclampsia (N = 45) and gestational hypertension (N = 23) were also studied. In the GDM group, telomere length was significantly shorter than normal pregnancy (P = 0.028), but there were no significant differences in fetal telomere length between preeclampsia and normal pregnancy (P = 0.841) and between gestational hypertension and normal pregnancy (P = 0.561). Regression analysis revealed that fetal telomere length was significantly associated with intrauterine exposure to GDM (P = 0.027 after adjustment for maternal age, gestational age at delivery, birth weight and fetal gender). Shortened telomere length may increase the risk of metabolic diseases in adulthood of GDM offspring.

Highlights

Telomeres contain noncoding hexameric tandem repeats ranging from a few to 15 kilobases in length that maintain chromosomal stability and genomic integrity [1,2]
There were no significant differences in telomere length between male and female fetuses of women with normal pregnancy (t = 0.546, P = 0.587), Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (t = 0.325, P = 0.746), gestational hypertension (t = 0.295, P = 0.772) or preeclampsia
We found that telomere length was significantly shortened in fetuses of GDM women as compared with fetuses of normal pregnant women

Summary

Introduction

Telomeres contain noncoding hexameric tandem repeats ranging from a few to 15 kilobases in length that maintain chromosomal stability and genomic integrity [1,2]. Telomeres shorten with cell division and telomere function depends on both a minimal length of TTAGGG repeats and telomere-binding proteins [1,2]. Telomeres shorten with age in most somatic tissues [3]. A heritable human trait, has been considered a marker of cumulative cell damage [1,2]. Shortening of the length of telomeres is associated with a series of metabolic abnormalities including impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) reflects the replication of hematopoietic stem cells that are sensitive to adverse external conditions; it is a biomarker for the evaluation of ageing and past exposure to adverse conditions [3,5,6,7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion