Are long telomeres better than short? Relative contributions of genetically predicted telomere length to neoplastic and non-neoplastic disease risk and population health burden

摘要

Background Mendelian Randomization (MR) studies exploiting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predictive of leukocyte telomere length (LTL) have suggested that shorter genetically determined telomere length (gTL) is associated with increased risks of degenerative diseases, including cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases, while longer gTL is associated with increased cancer risks. These varying directions of disease risk have long begged the question: when it comes to telomeres, is it better to be long or short? We propose to operationalize and answer this question by considering the relative impact of long gTL vs. short gTL on disease incidence and burden in a population.