Is the mean blood leukocyte telomere length apredictor for sporadic thoracic aortic aneurysm? Data from a preliminary study

Telomeres have been postulated as a universal clock that shortens in parallel with cellular aging. They arespecialized DNA–protein structures at the ends of chromosome with remarkable functions—preventing theirrecognition as double-stranded DNA breaks, protecting their recombination and degradation, and avoiding aDNA damage cellular response. Telomere shortening is currently considered the best aging marker, but is also apredictor for age-related diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. Biological age clearly seems to be a betterpredictor of vascular risk rather than chronological age. This concept is supported by key assumptions thatperipheral blood leukocyte telomere content accurately reflects that of the vascular wall and its decrease isassociated with premature vascular disease. Thus, we are analyzing whether the mean of blood leukocytetelomere length might also be a predictor for sporadic thoracic aortic aneurysm (S-TAA). The preliminary resultsseem to be promising. Shorter telomeres were detected in patients than in controls. Thus, mean of bloodleukocyte telomere length could contribute to identify individuals at S-TAA risk.