To study leukocyte telomere length and its relationship with metabolic profile 35 patients with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 21 healthy people of middle age (35-59 years) were examined. The anthropometric characteristics of obesity, indicators of lipid and glucose metabolism, alanin aminotransferase (ALT) and high sensitive C-reactive protein levels were studied. The relative average telomere length was determined by the method of monochrome multiplex quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction. Patients with T2DM had higher BMI, waist circumference, higher high sensitive C-reactive protein, ALT and glucose levels and a worse lipid profile (p <0.05). At the same time, the median telomere length did not differ between groups. Nevertheless, in the T2DM group the telomere length inversely correlated with body weight (r = –0.35; p < 0.05), BMI (r = –0.36; p < 0.05), waist circumference (r = –0.34; p < 0.05) and ALT level (r = –0,44; p<0,05) in contrast to healthy subjects. No relationship was found between the telomere length and the level of fasting glycemia, as well as the age of the participants of both groups. Thus, in T2DM patients increase in BMI, waist circumference and ALT level were associated with a shorter leukocyte telomere length. Despite the worse metabolic profile, the telomere length in middle-aged T2DM patients did not differ from that in the control group. This indicates that the leukocyte telomere length is influenced not only by the presence of T2DM and the metabolic profile indicators, but, obviously, by other factors as well.
Association of leukocyte telomere length with chronic kidney disease in East Asians with type 2 diabetes: A Mendelian randomization study
