Medical News Today: Shortened Telomere Length Linked To Higher Emphysema Risk
Date: 24.10.2011
Animal studies have shown that shortened telomere length is closely associated with a higher risk of developing emphysema, researchers from Johns Hopkins University revealed in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
A telomere is a protein structure at the end of a chromosome. It is a specialized structure involved in the stability and replication of the chromosome - it protects the chromosome tip from degradation. The researchers describe telomeres as the body's own cellular clocks.
Mary Armanios, MD, assistant professor of oncology, said:
"We found that in mice that have short telomeres, there was a significant increased risk of developing emphysema after exposure to cigarette smoke."
Although telomere length is genetically determined, they gradually get shorter with cell division. Shortened telomeres are seen as a sign of ageing in cells.
Dr. Armanios added:
"With age, short telomeres accumulate and cause cells to stop dividing. Telomeres can be thought of as 'biological clocks'. We wanted to determine whether telomere length itself was why susceptibility to emphysema increases with age."
Dr. Armanios and team set out to determine what the role of telomeres might be in lung disease. They studied mice with shortened telomeres and exposed them to cigarette smoke for six hours daily, five days per week for a total of six months.
They then assessed the mice's pulmonary function by analyzing lung tissue.
Dr. Armanios said:
"Although the mice had no lung disease at baseline, after exposure to cigarette smoke, they surprisingly developed emphysema. In contrast, mice with long telomeres did not develop lung disease during our experiments."
When a patient has emphysema, the small air sacs in the lungs where oxygen exchange occurs - the alveoli - are permanently lost. Emphysema tends to affect older people. Even those who have never smoked may develop it. However, the majority of sufferers are smokers or were long-term regular smokers...
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