Determinants of Telomere Length in Chronic SCI: A Pilot Study

Va Boston Health Care System, Boston MA

Investigators

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Telomeres are made up of repeat sequences of nucleotides at the ends of human chromosomes. The function of telomeres is to protect chromosomes from degradation and to maintain their structural integrity. Telomeres are analogous to a molecular clock reflecting the number of divisions a cell has undergone and cells with critically short telomeres are predisposed to enter senescence. Previous research suggests that telomere length is reduced in association with lifestyle and clinical factors that are common in study spinal cord injury (lac of exercise, obesity, chronic or recurrent inflammation from skin ulcers, and urinary tract infections) as well as in persons with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. These latter diseases are the most common causes of death in chronic spinal cord injury. By using telomere length as a molecular biomarker, it is proposed to study spinal cord injury as a disease state that promotes accelerated aging at the cellular level. It is hypothesized that greater central obesity determined by DXA scan and greater systemic inflammation assessed by plasma C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 will be associated with shorter telomere length, and that persons with shorter telomere length will have reduced pulmonary function. This pilot project will obtain preliminary data regarding these associations in 350 persons with chronic SCI, and assess longitudinal associations between systemic inflammation and telomere loss in a subset. The study of telomere length is significant since it may serve a biomarker of persons with chronic spinal cord injury most likely to develop of chronic cardiopulmonary disease and premature mortality.