Fol. Biol. 2016, 62, 188-193

https://doi.org/10.14712/fb2016062050188

Can Leukocyte Telomere Length Predict Survival Time in Heart Transplant Recipients over a Minimal Follow-Up of 20 years?

Dana Dlouhá1, V. Vančura2,3, J. Vymětalová2, J. A. Hubáček1, V. Lánská4, I. Málek2

1Centre for Experimental Medicine, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
2Cardiology Centre, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
3Cardiology Department, Complex Cardiovascular Centre, Charles University, Faculty of Medicine Pilsen and University Hospital in Pilsen, Czech Republic
4Medical Statistical Unit, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic

Received February 2016
Accepted May 2016

In humans, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) reduces with age and is reported to be inversely associated with ageing-related diseases. We measured LTL in leukocyte DNA using a quantitative PCRbased method from 127 blood samples of heart recipients (107 males, 20 females, age 44.1 ± 10.5), followed for up to 30 years. Patients with coronary artery disease survived for a shorter time and also had shorter LTL (both P < 0.05 after adjustment for age and sex) than subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy. Patients with non-cardiac causes of death had shorter LTL than patients with cardiac causes (P < 0.05 after adjustment for age). An inverse correlation between LTL and age (P < 0.03) was observed in patients with non-cardiac causes of death only. Most importantly, LTL was not associated with general survival time in patients after heart transplantation. However, shorter LTL was a marker of non-cardiac causes of death. Different LTLs and survival times were determined in association with aetiology of heart failure (HF).

Funding

This work was supported by project No. NT 14023-3/2013 (IGA, MH, CR).

References

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