1 / 26

Telomere Panel New indicator of health and longevity Training Session

Telomere Panel New indicator of health and longevity Training Session. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D. Diplomate American Board of Pediatrics Diplomate American Board of Medical Genetics Diplomate American Board of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine. Benefits. Markers for biological age.

lionel-glass
Download Presentation

Telomere Panel New indicator of health and longevity Training Session

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Telomere Panel New indicator of health and longevity Training Session Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D. Diplomate American Board of Pediatrics Diplomate American Board of Medical Genetics Diplomate American Board of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  2. Benefits • Markers for biological age. • This information may enable a person to make adjustments to his/her lifestyle that can lead to better health and a longer life. • Telomere shortening is related to aging, degenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, stress and causes impair immune function that might also increase cancer susceptibility. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  3. Method: Saliva collection by Saliva kit Target group: Age 25 and over Test: Measure telomere length by qPCR Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  4. What are telomeres? Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  5. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  6. What are telomeres? Telomeres are… • Repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of all human chromosomes • They contain thousands of repeats of the six-nucleotide sequence, TTAGGG • In humans there are 46 chromosomes and thus 92 telomeres (one at each end) Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  7. Telomeres • In humans, telomeric repeats average 5-15 kilobases. • Telomere specific proteins, eg. TRF1 & TRF2 bind to the repeat sequence and protect the ends. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  8. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  9. What do telomeres do? • They protect the chromosomes. • They separate one chromosome from another. • Without telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes would be “repaired” and become sticky, leading to chromosome fusion and massive genomic instability. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  10. Telomere function • Telomeres are also thought to be the "clock" that regulates how many times an individual cell can divide. • Telomericsequences shorten each time the DNA replicates. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  11. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  12. Think of it like this…. • Telomeres effectively "cap" the end of a chromosome in a manner similar to the way the plastic on the ends of our shoelaces "caps" and protects the shoelaces from unraveling. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  13. Telomeres & Aging • Once the telomere shrinks to a certain level, the cell can no longer divide. • Its metabolism slows down, it ages, and dies. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  14. Telomeres & Aging • Healthy human cells are mortal because they can divide only a finite number of times, growing older each time they divide. • Thus cells in an elderly person are much older than cells in an infant. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  15. Telomeres & Aging • It has been proposed that telomere shortening may be a molecular clock mechanism that counts the number of times a cell has divided and when telomeres are short at a critical length, cellular senescence (growth arrest) occurs. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  16. Telomeres & Aging • It is believed that shortened telomeres in mitotic (dividing) cells may be responsible for some of the changes we associate with normal aging. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  17. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  18. Telomere length & Aging • By standard definitions, "Aging" is not a disease. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  19. Telomere length & Aging • At birth, the average human telomere length is 10,000 base pairs. • At 20 years, the average telomere length is 8,000. • By age 50, around 7,000 remain. • And so it goes, losing 50-100 base pairs a year until only 4000 remain at age 100. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  20. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  21. Telomere shortening • Telomere shortening in humans is related to aging, degenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, stress and causes impair immune function that might also increase cancer susceptibility. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  22. How can we monitor aging process and possible risks associated with aging disorders? = we measure telomere length Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  23. Telomere Length Measurement • The primary benefit of a telomere test may be the information it provides to an individual regarding their biological age and susceptiblity of aging and degenerative diseases. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  24. Method • qPCR Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  25. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

  26. Benefits of telomere test • It is an excellent indicator of overall general health. • It permits us to have a better understanding of life-style habits that impact aging and gives us opportunity to make changes. • It will allow for more personalized medicine as we can follow response with biological age, as measured by telomere length. Valairat Dhamcharee, M.D.

More Related