Telomere length and chronic kidney disease: cause or consequence?

Telomere length is considered as a clock mirroring aging and is influenced by oxidative stress and inflammation. Both conditions are highly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease and other degenerative disorders, such as cardiovascular disease. However, it is discussed controversially whether short telomeres are causally associated with chronic kidney disease or whether chronic kidney disease is contributing to an attrition of telomere length. Park et al., in this issue of Kidney International, use an extended 2-sample Mendelian randomization analysis with large data sets to shed new light on this research question. Telomere length is considered as a clock mirroring aging and is influenced by oxidative stress and inflammation. Both conditions are highly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease and other degenerative disorders, such as cardiovascular disease. However, it is discussed controversially whether short telomeres are causally associated with chronic kidney disease or whether chronic kidney disease is contributing to an attrition of telomere length. Park et al., in this issue of Kidney International, use an extended 2-sample Mendelian randomization analysis with large data sets to shed new light on this research question. Results from the German Chronic Kidney Disease (GCKD) study support association of relative telomere length with mortality in a large cohort of patients with moderate chronic kidney diseaseKidney InternationalVol. 98Issue 2PreviewTelomere length is known to be inversely associated with aging and has been proposed as a marker for aging-related diseases. Telomere attrition can be accelerated by oxidative stress and inflammation, both commonly present in patients with chronic kidney disease. Here, we investigated whether relative telomere length is associated with mortality in a large cohort of patients with chronic kidney disease stage G3 and A1-3 or G1-2 with overt proteinuria (A3) at enrollment. Relative telomere length was quantified in peripheral blood by a quantitative PCR method in 4,955 patients from the GCKD study, an ongoing prospective observational cohort. Full-Text PDF Open AccessA Mendelian randomization study found causal linkage between telomere attrition and chronic kidney diseaseKidney InternationalVol. 100Issue 5PreviewChronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent in the elderly population. However, it is rarely investigated whether kidney function is causally linked to biological aging itself. In this Mendelian randomization study, genetic instruments for telomere attrition were applied to a CKDGen genome wide association study results for 41,395 cases of CKD among 480,698 individuals as summary-level Mendelian randomization. A replicative analysis was performed by polygenic score analysis using independent United Kingdom Biobank data for 8,118 cases of CKD among 321,024 white individuals of British ancestry. Full-Text PDF