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Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?

Telomeres are repetitive tandem DNA sequences that cap chromosomal ends protecting genomic DNA from enzymatic degradation. Telomeres progressively shorten with cellular replication and are therefore assumed to correlate with biological and chronological age. An expanding body of evidence suggests (i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chilton, Warrick, O’Brien, Brendan, Charchar, Fadi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5751176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29186077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122573
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author Chilton, Warrick
O’Brien, Brendan
Charchar, Fadi
author_facet Chilton, Warrick
O’Brien, Brendan
Charchar, Fadi
author_sort Chilton, Warrick
collection PubMed
description Telomeres are repetitive tandem DNA sequences that cap chromosomal ends protecting genomic DNA from enzymatic degradation. Telomeres progressively shorten with cellular replication and are therefore assumed to correlate with biological and chronological age. An expanding body of evidence suggests (i) a predictable inverse association between telomere length, aging and age-related diseases and (ii) a positive association between physical activity and telomere length. Both hypotheses have garnered tremendous research attention and broad consensus; however, the evidence for each proposition is inconsistent and equivocal at best. Telomere length does not meet the basic criteria for an aging biomarker and at least 50% of key studies fail to find associations with physical activity. In this review, we address the evidence in support and refutation of the putative associations between telomere length, aging and physical activity. We finish with a brief review of plausible mechanisms and potential future research directions.
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spelling pubmed-57511762018-01-08 Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association? Chilton, Warrick O’Brien, Brendan Charchar, Fadi Int J Mol Sci Review Telomeres are repetitive tandem DNA sequences that cap chromosomal ends protecting genomic DNA from enzymatic degradation. Telomeres progressively shorten with cellular replication and are therefore assumed to correlate with biological and chronological age. An expanding body of evidence suggests (i) a predictable inverse association between telomere length, aging and age-related diseases and (ii) a positive association between physical activity and telomere length. Both hypotheses have garnered tremendous research attention and broad consensus; however, the evidence for each proposition is inconsistent and equivocal at best. Telomere length does not meet the basic criteria for an aging biomarker and at least 50% of key studies fail to find associations with physical activity. In this review, we address the evidence in support and refutation of the putative associations between telomere length, aging and physical activity. We finish with a brief review of plausible mechanisms and potential future research directions. MDPI 2017-11-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5751176/ /pubmed/29186077 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122573 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Chilton, Warrick
O’Brien, Brendan
Charchar, Fadi
Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title_full Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title_fullStr Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title_full_unstemmed Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title_short Telomeres, Aging and Exercise: Guilty by Association?
title_sort telomeres, aging and exercise: guilty by association?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5751176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29186077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122573
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