ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2024
Association of critically short telomeres with brain and blood markers of ageing and Alzheimer's disease in older adults.
Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02977819 (Interventional Study in Cognitively Intact Seniors Aiming to Assess the Effects of Meditation Training and Foreign Language Learning on Behavioral, Biological and Neuroimaging Measures), which is not on this map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Interventional Study in Cognitively Intact Seniors Aiming to Assess the Effects of Meditation Training and Foreign Language Learning on Behavioral, Biological and Neuroimaging Measures
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Telomere dynamics are influenced by sleep, sleep variability and circadian rhythms in older adults with or without alzheimer's risk.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Trial
- Targeting innovative therapeutic approaches to the hallmarks of aging to combat Alzheimer's disease.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Regulatory Variation at TERT and TERC Shows Limited Association with Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease in Carriers of the Mexican Founder MutationMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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17 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAccumulation of critically short telomeres (CST) is implicated in decreased tissular regenerative capacity and increased susceptibility to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Telomere shortening has also been associated with age-related brain changes. However, it remains unclear whether CST accumulation is directly associated with AD markers or instead amplifies age-related effects, potentially increasing susceptibility of developing AD in cognitively healthy older adults.
methodsThis cross-sectional study used baseline data of 129 community-dwelling cognitively healthy older adults from the Age-Well trial (NCT02977819), aged 65 years and older enrolled between 2016 and 2018, in France. Using linear regressions, we analyzed the relationship between an innovative marker of telomere shortening, the percentage of CST (%CST), structural, functional and molecular neuroimaging outcomes, and multiple blood-based biomarkers related to AD pathophysiology. The effect of apolipoprotein E ε4 genotype (APOE4) was assessed on these relationships using interaction analysis.
resultsA higher %CST was associated with lower global kurtosis fractional anisotropy (β = -.230; P = .010), particularly in frontal and temporal regions. A higher %CST was also related to higher plasma levels of Neurofilament light chain (β = .195; P = .020) and a lower subiculum volume (β = -.206; P = .020), although these associations did not meet the threshold for multiple comparisons. %CST was not associated with AD-related neuroimaging markers, including the AD-sensitive gray matter pattern (β = -.060; P = .441), glucose metabolism pattern (β = -.099; P = .372), brain perfusion pattern (β = -.106; P = .694) or hippocampus volume (β = -.106; P = .194). In APOE4 carriers, higher %CST was associated with lower subiculum (β = -.423; P = 0.003), DG (β = -.410; P = 0.018) and CA1 volumes (β = -.373; P = 0.024), even though associations with DG and CA1 volumes did not survive multiple comparison.
conclusionsAlthough an increase in %CST does not appear to be directly linked to the pathophysiology of AD in cognitively healthy older adults, it could heighten the susceptibility of APOE4 carriers to develop AD plausibly due to greater vulnerability to age-related effects. However, longitudinal studies would be necessary to determine whether %CST influences the development and progression of AD later in life.
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