There are telomeres that are present inside chromosomes that age as we grow older, and may therefore serve to predict the length of our lifespan.
While wrinkles may betray the age we have externally, our cells, on the other hand, disclose their age – and account life’s toll – at the end of our chromosomes. These ends, also known as telomeres, may as well predict our probability of an early death.
Telomeres can be described as the protective caps that are made of recurring chunks of DNA that keep the remaining gene-laden chromosomes from devastatingly unravelling. However, they do lose bits of themselves each time the cell divides itself, therefore over a lifetime, similar to a counter, the telomeres shorten. Ultimately, the shortened telomeres send the cells into senescence; a state similar to a retirement whereby they no longer divide or even remain active, but they do not die also.
It the presence of senescent cells in a person skin that makes him looks withered; in his immune system, these cell make the person vulnerable to the illnesses of aging, like heart failure, heart disease, diabetes as well as what is commonly called a “failure to thrive”.
Eventually, if we would be better able to understand the links between telomeres and healthier and longer lives, we might as well know the way to protect or boost the tips of our chromosomes. That might in reality not need new drugs but merely following what we are already aware of regarding a healthy lifestyle.
Disease fighters
The majority of human studies carried out in relation to telomeres have concentrated on white blood cells that are found in the immune system, one of the small number of cells types that are found in adults that produce an enzyme known as telomerase. Telomerase sustain telomeres by adding up the DNA that has been lost during the process of cell division. Immune cells require telomerase so that they can regularly divide and replenish themselves without exhausting their telomeres, stated the Doctor Elizabeth Blackburn, biologist at the UC San Francisco as well as a co-discoverer of telomerase and telomeres. However, as a person ages, the telomerase reduces, therefore the immune cell telomeres ultimately shorten.
A current study that was published in the Journal of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, an American Heart Assn. journal, in July, discovered that amongst 780 patients who have steady heart disease, patients with their shortest telomeres in their immune cells had doubled probability of death and heart failure after 4.4 years as compared to people with the longest telomeres. The patients who were found in the highest-risk group had telomeres that were half the length of those who were in the lowest-risk group.
A cardiologist at the UC San Francisco, Doctor Ramin Farzaneh-Far, who had analysed the data, said that since we have adjusted for age, we are now aware that the telomere length is conveying something more than chronological age to us. It is hopefully evaluating biological age.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Fri, Jun 18, 2010
Anti Aging, Health And Aging, Longevity