SynthesisAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2021
Telomere length analysis from minimally-invasively collected samples: Methods development and meta-analysis of the validity of different sampling techniques: American Journal of Human Biology.
Synthesis in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Remote Blood Collection for Telomere Length Measurement: Assessing the Impact of Sample Characteristics and Handling on DNA Quality and Assay Outcomes.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- The researcher's guide to selecting biomarkers in mental health studies.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2024Review
- The influence of perceived stress and motivation on telomere length among NCAA swimmers.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2024Article
- Remote dried blood spot collection for inflammatory markers in older adults is feasible, reliable, and valid.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Article
- Current and future applications of biomarkers in samples collected through minimally invasive methods for cancer medicine and population-based research.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Review
- Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Review
- Minimally invasive biomarkers in human and non-human primate evolutionary biology: Tools for understanding variation and adaptation.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Higher educational attainment is associated with longer telomeres in midlife: Evidence from sibling comparisons in the UK Biobank.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Examining the influence of adversity, family contexts, and a family-based intervention on parent and child telomere length.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- Coming up short: Comparing venous blood, dried blood spots & saliva samples for measuring telomere length in health equity research.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTelomeres are the protective caps of chromosomes. They shorten with cell replication, age, and possibly environmental stimuli (eg, infection and stress). Short telomere length (TL) predicts subsequent worse health. Although venous whole blood (VWB) is most commonly used for TL measurement, other, more minimally invasive, sampling techniques are becoming increasingly common due to their field-friendliness, allowing for feasible measurement in low-resource contexts. We conducted statistical validation work for measuring TL in dried blood spots (DBS) and incorporated our results into a meta-analysis evaluating minimally invasive sampling techniques to measure TL.
methodsWe isolated DNA extracts from DBS using a modified extraction protocol and tested how they endured different shipping conditions and long-term cryostorage. We then included our in-house DBS TL validation statistics (correlation values with VWB TL and age) in a series of meta-analyses of results from 24 other studies that published similar associations for values between TL measured in DBS, saliva, and buccal cells.
resultsOur modified DBS extraction technique produced DNA yields that were roughly twice as large as previously recorded. Partially extracted DBS DNA was stable for 7 days at room temperature, and still provided reliable TL measurements, as determined by external validation statistics. In our meta-analysis, DBS TL had the highest external validity, followed by saliva, and then buccal cells-possibly reflecting similarities/differences in cellular composition vs VWB.
conclusionsDBS DNA is the best proxy for VWB from the three minimally-invasively specimen types evaluated and can be used to expand TL research to diverse settings and populations.
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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.