Article

Telomerase activity and telomere length of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in SLE patients.

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Lupus (impact factor: 2.34). 02/2003; 12(8):591-9. pp.591-9
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT We evaluated the clinical significance of the telomerase activity and telomere length of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). PBMC were isolated from 55 patients with SLE and the telomerase activity was measured by TRAP assay. The telomere length of PBMC was also measured in 30 of these subjects. As a control group, 45 healthy adults with no particular clinical history were studied. The results were compared with clinical data. In patients with active SLE, the telomerase activity of PBMC was significantly increased compared with the control group. In patients with inactive SLE, the PBMC telomerase activity was not different compared with the controls in their 20s, 30s and 40s, but it was significantly increased compared with the controls in their 50s. In SLE patients, the telomerase activity of PBMC was significantly correlated with modified SLEDAI. The telomere length of PBMC in younger SLE patients tended to be shorter than that in the controls, but no difference was observed in older patients. The correlation coefficient between the telomerase activity and telomere length of PBMC in SLE patients was not significant. Abnormalities in the telomerase activity and telomere length observed in SLE patients are considered to be important findings for evaluation of the pathology of SLE.

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Keywords

45 healthy adults
 
Abnormalities
 
active SLE
 
clinical significance
 
control group
 
correlation coefficient
 
inactive SLE
 
particular clinical history
 
PBMC
 
PBMC telomerase activity
 
peripheral blood mononuclear cells
 
shorter
 
SLE
 
SLE patients
 
SLEDAI
 
systemic lupus erythematosus
 
telomerase activity
 
telomere length
 
TRAP assay
 
younger SLE patients
 

Daitaro Kurosaka