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Telomere biology
Original article
The heritability of leucocyte telomere length dynamics
  1. Jacob B Hjelmborg1,2,
  2. Christine Dalgård3,
  3. Soren Möller1,2,
  4. Troels Steenstrup1,2,
  5. Masayuki Kimura4,
  6. Kaare Christensen1,2,5,6,
  7. Kirsten O Kyvik7,
  8. Abraham Aviv4
  1. 1Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  2. 2The Danish Twin Registry, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  3. 3Department of Environmental Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  4. 4Center of Human Development and Aging, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA
  5. 5Department of Clinical Genetics, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
  6. 6Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
  7. 7Institute of Regional Health Services Research, University of Southern Denmark and Odense Patient data Explorative Network (OPEN), Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jacob B Hjelmborg, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløwsvej 9 B, Odense C DK-5000, Denmark; jhjelmborg{at}health.sdu.dk

Abstract

Background Leucocyte telomere length (LTL) is a complex trait associated with ageing and longevity. LTL dynamics are defined by LTL and its age-dependent attrition. Strong, but indirect evidence suggests that LTL at birth and its attrition during childhood largely explains interindividual LTL variation among adults. A number of studies have estimated the heritability of LTL, but none has assessed the heritability of age-dependent LTL attrition.

Methods We examined the heritability of LTL dynamics based on a longitudinal evaluation (an average follow-up of 12 years) in 355 monozygotic and 297 dizygotic same-sex twins (aged 19–64 years at baseline).

Results Heritability of LTL at baseline was estimated at 64% (95% CI 39% to 83%) with 22% (95% CI 6% to 49%) of shared environmental effects. Heritability of age-dependent LTL attrition rate was estimated at 28% (95% CI 16% to 44%). Individually unique environmental factors, estimated at 72% (95% CI 56% to 84%) affected LTL attrition rate with no indication of shared environmental effects.

Conclusions This is the first study that estimated heritability of LTL and also its age-dependent attrition. As LTL attrition is much slower in adults than in children and given that having a long or a short LTL is largely determined before adulthood, our findings suggest that heritability and early life environment are the main determinants of LTL throughout the human life course. Thus, insights into factors that influence LTL at birth and its dynamics during childhood are crucial for understanding the role of telomere genetics in human ageing and longevity.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/jmedgenet-2014-102736

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