Telomeres in a Life-Span Perspective: A New 'Psychobiomarker'?

摘要

ABSTRACT—In order to more fully understand associationsbetween psychological stress and health, it is helpful forresearchers to identify "psychobiomarkers," or biologicalmeasures that are regulated in part by psychologicalfunction and that predict longevity. Telomere length ap-pears to be such a measure. Telomeres, the protective capsat the tips of chromosomes, shorten with age, and thisshortening predicts disease and longevity. Leukocyte telo-mere length may be best viewed through a life-span ap-proach, as it reflects in part the cumulative number of celldivisions that have occurred and the long-term biochemi-cal environment. Recently, a critical mass of studies dem-onstrated that telomeres appear to shorten with chronicstress, although the mechanisms are unknown. This paperreviews what appear to be malleable determinants of rateof telomere attrition, focusing on early life chronic stress-ors and metabolic adversity (poor nutrition during devel-opment, and obesity). The next generation of research willbenefit from experimental and longitudinal models inte-grating genetic variation, social environments, life expe-rience, and health behaviors.