Telomere Study: Shortened Telomeres Linked To Cancer, Cellular Aging; May Be Reversed With Telomerase Activation

It has been well-known for some years now that when telomeres(http://www.tasciences.com/) in people (DNA repeats located at the ends of all chromosomes) have shortened, it may likely lead to an age related condition or disease in individuals. But when longer telomeres are found in people, those subjects have been found to look younger, age healthier and live longer.

An article recently published in MedPage Today, and written by Todd Neale, states that according to researchers, a person’s telomere length is inversely associated with the risk of getting, and dying from, cancer. Stefan Kiechl, MD, of Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, and colleagues, conducted the research and noted many facts and statistics to substantiate their findings (reported in the July 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association), including:

• People with the shortest telomeres were 3 times more likely to develop cancer over a 10-year period than those individuals with the longest telomeres.
• Those with the shortest telomeres were also 11 times more likely to die from cancer.

Furthermore, Kiechl and his colleagues conducted a population-based Bruneck Study in Italy. This research was designed to determine if critically short telomeres can lead to chromosomal instability, and consequently associated with cancer risk. The current analysis included 787 individuals, ages 40 to 79, who were free from cancer at baseline in 1995 and were followed to 2005. Telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes was measured at baseline.

Some of the noted findings were:

• During follow-up, 11.7% developed cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. Mean telomere length was significantly shorter in the participants with cancer.
• After adjustment for several standard cancer risk factors, shorter telomere length at baseline was associated with an increased risk of developing cancer. That increase in risk equates to about a 12.8-year difference in chronological age, according to the researchers.
• Although participants with the shortest telomeres had the greatest increase in cancer risk, those in the middle tertile of telomere length had more than double the risk of those with the longest telomeres.
• The association between telomere length and cancer risk was consistent across patient subgroups.
• The number of cancer cases was too small to create meaningful analyses of individual cancer types, but shorter telomeres appeared to be preferentially associated with more deadly malignancies, such as gastric, lung, and ovarian cancers.
• Of the participants who developed cancer, nearly half (47.8%) died from it.

Even with detailed research such as this, the importance of telomeres is still being debated. However, as the evidence continues to increase, the arguments in support of telomeres as a marker of health become ever stronger.

There is some good news in all of this. Telomerase is a natural enzyme found in the human body that can help maintain telomere length, but it needs to be activated. There are now products available that can do just that! Telomerase activation (http://www.tasciences.com/) works on all cells in the body and can improve not only longevity, but also quality of life by reducing cellular aging (which occurs when the telomeres are so short the cell can no longer divide and eventually dies).

Even though the verdict may still be out on how lengthening telomeres can specifically affect aging issues, double-blind, placebo controlled studies on telomerase activating products have shown improvements in other areas. These include vision and sexual function, energy levels and skin elasticity, and as an immune booster, to name a few(http://www.tasciences.com/).

With so much information now being communicated to the general public about this topic, it’s exciting to know that there is actually and finally a proven product available to fight the aging process and the problems that are associated with it.

Contact Information

Sean Miller

Author

TA Sciences

Contact via E-mail