Osteoarthritis and telomere shortening

Kuszel L, Trzeciak T, Richter M, Czarny-Ratajczak M · J Appl Genet

Reports the Martin and Buckwalter 2001 series of 27 donors aged 1 to 87 in which mean chondrocyte terminal-restriction-fragment length fell from 11.8 kbp in a 13-year-old to 8.7 kbp in an 87-year-old, and in which adult chondrocytes were found to have no telomerase activity. Restates the Price, Zhai, Tamayo and Harbo findings and notes that osteoarthritis chondrocytes carried 1.5 times the numerical chromosome aberrations of the same patients' leukocytes and 1.7 times those of control chondrocytes. Concludes that chondrocyte and leukocyte telomere length could become early biomarkers, with the caveat that comparing more and less affected cartilage from the same joint is the only design that removes between-person variation at birth.

Population

Narrative review of telomere shortening in osteoarthritis, in blood leukocytes and chondrocytes

Intervention

n/a

Comparator

n/a

Limitations

Narrative review with no protocol and no funding statement; published in a genetics journal rather than a rheumatology one. The absence of telomerase in adult chondrocytes is the single fact in it that bears most on a telomerase-inducing peptide.