ArticlePsychiatry research2015
PBMC telomerase activity, but not leukocyte telomere length, correlates with hippocampal volume in major depression.
Article in Psychiatry research, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Role of telomere length and telomerase activity in accelerated cellular aging and major depressive disorder: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Peripheral blood telomerase activity and telomerase reverse transcriptase gene expression in psychiatric disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Evidence map of traditional Chinese exercises.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Volumetric brain differences in clinical depression in association with anxiety: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2020Pooled it
- PBMC telomerase activity in depression and the response to electroconvulsive therapy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Association of Short-term Change in Leukocyte Telomere Length With Cortical Thickness and Outcomes of Mental Training Among Healthy Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2019Trial
- Telomere Dynamics in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Critical Synthesis.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Shorter telomere length predicts poor antidepressant response and poorer cardiometabolic indices in major depression.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Exploring the potential of mindfulness-based therapy in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases based on molecular mechanism studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Mental Disorders Are Associated With Leukocytes Telomere Shortening Among People Who Inject Drugs.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Rapid changes of miRNAs-20, -30, -410, -515, -134, and -183 and telomerase with psychological activity: A one year study on the relaxation response and epistemological considerations.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2021Article
- Increased telomerase activity in major depressive disorder with melancholic features: Possible role of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2021Article
- Telomere length and human hippocampal neurogenesis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Early Life Stress, Frontoamygdala Connectivity, and Biological Aging in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Investigation.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2020Article
- Biological Hallmarks of Cancer in Alzheimer's Disease.Molecular neurobiology · 2019Review
- Telomere Biology in Mood Disorders: An Updated, Comprehensive Review of the Literature.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Article
- The relation of telomere length at midlife to subsequent 20-year depression trajectories among women.Depression and anxiety · 2019Article
- Review
- Stress, Telomeres, and Psychopathology: Toward a Deeper Understanding of a Triad of Early Aging.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Accelerated cell aging, indexed in peripheral leukocytes by telomere shortness and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by telomerase activity, has been reported in several studies of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relevance of these peripheral measures for brain indices that are presumably more directly related to MDD pathophysiology is unknown. In this study, we explored the relationship between PBMC telomerase activity and leukocyte telomere length and magnetic resonance imaging-estimated hippocampal volume in un-medicated depressed individuals and healthy controls. We predicted that, to the extent peripheral and central telomerase activity are directly related, PBMC telomerase activity would be positively correlated with hippocampal volume, perhaps due to hippocampal telomerase-associated neurogenesis, neuroprotection or neurotrophic facilitation, and that this effect would be clearer in individuals with increased PBMC telomerase activity, as previously reported in un-medicated MDD. We did not have specific hypotheses regarding the relationship between leukocyte telomere length and hippocampal volume, due to conflicting reports in the published literature. We found, in 25 un-medicated MDD subjects, that PBMC telomerase activity was significantly positively correlated with hippocampal volume; this relationship was not observed in 18 healthy controls. Leukocyte telomere length was not significantly related to hippocampal volume in either group (19 unmedicated MDD subjects and 17 healthy controls). Although the nature of the relationship between peripheral telomerase activity and telomere length and the hippocampus is unclear, these preliminary data are consistent with the possibility that PBMC telomerase activity indexes, and may provide a novel window into, hippocampal neuroprotection and/or neurogenesis in MDD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.