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Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis Is Related With Telomerase Activity and Treatment Duration
Author(s) -
Stefanidis Ioannis,
Voliotis Georgios,
Papanikolaou Vassilios,
Chronopoulou Ioanna,
Eleftheriadis Theodoros,
Kowald Axel,
Zintzaras Elias,
Tsezou Aspasia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/aor.12453
Subject(s) - telomerase , telomere , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , hemodialysis , medicine , hazard ratio , immunology , confidence interval , gastroenterology , biology , dna , genetics , gene , in vitro
Telomere shortening to a critical limit is associated with replicative senescence. This process is prevented by the enzyme telomerase. Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are factors accelerating telomere loss. Chronic hemodialysis, typically accompanied by oxidative stress and inflammation, may be also associated with replicative senescence. To test this hypothesis, we determined telomere length and telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( PBMC s) in a cross‐sectional study. Hemodialysis patients at the U niversity H ospital L arissa and healthy controls were studied. Telomere length was determined by the TeloTAGGG T elomere L ength A ssay and telomerase activity by T elomerase PCR‐ELISA ( R oche D iagnostics GmbH, M annheim, G ermany). We enrolled 43 hemodialysis patients (17 females; age 65.0 ± 12.7 years) and 23 controls (six females; age 62.1 ± 15.7 years). Between the two groups, there was no difference in telomere length (6.95 ± 3.25 vs. 7.31 ± 1.96 kb; P = 0.244) or in telomerase activity (1.82 ± 2.91 vs. 2.71 ± 3.0; P = 0.085). Telomere length correlated inversely with vintage of hemodialysis ( r = −0.332, P = 0.030). In hemodialysis patients, positive telomerase activity correlated with telomere length ( r = 0.443, P = 0.030). Only age, and neither telomere length nor telomerase activity, was an independent survival predictor (hazard ratio 1.116, 95% confidence interval 1.009–1.234, P = 0.033). In this study, telomere length and telomerase activity in PBMC s are not altered in hemodialysis patients compared with healthy controls. Long duration of hemodialysis treatment is associated with telomere shortening and positive telomerase activity with an increased telomere length in PBMC s of hemodialysis patients. The underlying mechanism and clinical implications of our findings require further investigation.