. 2016 Feb;43(2):282-8.

doi: 10.3899/jrheum.150184. Epub 2016 Jan 15.

A Prospective Study Investigating Prediagnostic Leukocyte Telomere Length and Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in Women

Jennifer Prescott¹, Elizabeth W Karlson², Esther H Orr², Robert Y L Zee², Immaculata De Vivo², Karen H Costenbader²

Affiliations

¹ From the Channing Division of Network Medicine, and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, and Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.J. Prescott, PhD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.H. Orr, BS, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; I. De Vivo, PhD, MPH, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.W. Karlson, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; K.H. Costenbader, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; R.Y. Zee, BDS, PhD, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. nhjxp@channing.harvard.edu.
² From the Channing Division of Network Medicine, and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, and Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.J. Prescott, PhD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.H. Orr, BS, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; I. De Vivo, PhD, MPH, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.W. Karlson, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; K.H. Costenbader, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; R.Y. Zee, BDS, PhD, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

PMID: 26773113
PMCID: PMC4738071
DOI: 10.3899/jrheum.150184

A Prospective Study Investigating Prediagnostic Leukocyte Telomere Length and Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in Women

Jennifer Prescott et al. J Rheumatol. 2016 Feb.

. 2016 Feb;43(2):282-8.

doi: 10.3899/jrheum.150184. Epub 2016 Jan 15.

Authors

Jennifer Prescott¹, Elizabeth W Karlson², Esther H Orr², Robert Y L Zee², Immaculata De Vivo², Karen H Costenbader²

Affiliations

¹ From the Channing Division of Network Medicine, and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, and Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.J. Prescott, PhD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.H. Orr, BS, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; I. De Vivo, PhD, MPH, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.W. Karlson, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; K.H. Costenbader, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; R.Y. Zee, BDS, PhD, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. nhjxp@channing.harvard.edu.
² From the Channing Division of Network Medicine, and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, and Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.J. Prescott, PhD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.H. Orr, BS, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; I. De Vivo, PhD, MPH, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health; E.W. Karlson, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; K.H. Costenbader, MD, MPH, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; R.Y. Zee, BDS, PhD, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

PMID: 26773113
PMCID: PMC4738071
DOI: 10.3899/jrheum.150184

Abstract

Objective: To prospectively examine the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and subsequent rheumatoid arthritis (RA) development in women.

Methods: Using a case-control design nested within the prospective Nurses' Health Study (NHS), NHS II (NHSII), and Women's Health Study (WHS), each validated case of RA with a prediagnostic blood sample was matched to 3 controls by cohort, age, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone therapy, and blood collection covariates. We measured telomere length in genomic DNA extracted from stored buffy coat samples using quantitative PCR. We used unconditional logistic regression to determine OR and 95% CI, and random-effects metaanalysis to combine study results.

Results: In total, we analyzed 296 incident RA cases and 827 matched controls. Mean age of diagnosis among women who developed RA was 60.5 in NHS/NHSII and 61.3 in WHS. Metaanalysis demonstrated that longer prediagnostic LTL was associated with increased RA risk when women in the longest versus shortest LTL tertile were compared (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.03-2.23, Pheterogeneity = 0.27). However, statistically significant between-study heterogeneity was observed for the intermediate tertile category (Pheterogeneity = 0.008). We did not observe heterogeneity by menopausal status, inflammatory cytokine levels, age at diagnosis, age at blood collection, body mass index, seropositivity, or HLA-DRβ1 shared epitope status.

Conclusion: Our results do not support an involvement for short LTL preceding RA development.

Keywords: INCIDENT COHORT; LEUKOCYTES; RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS; RISK ASSESSMENT; TELOMERE; WOMEN.

PubMed Disclaimer

Cited by

The Abnormal CD4+T Lymphocyte Subset Distribution and Vbeta Repertoire in New-onset Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Be Modulated by Methotrexate Treament.
Monserrat J, Bohórquez C, Gómez Lahoz AM, Movasat A, Pérez A, Ruíz L, Díaz D, Chara L, Sánchez AI, Albarrán F, Sanz I, Álvarez-Mon M. Monserrat J, et al. Cells. 2019 Aug 10;8(8):871. doi: 10.3390/cells8080871. Cells. 2019. PMID: 31405169 Free PMC article.
A Roadmap for Investigating Preclinical Autoimmunity Using Patient-Oriented and Epidemiologic Study Designs: Example of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Kowalski EN, Qian G, Vanni KMM, Sparks JA. Kowalski EN, et al. Front Immunol. 2022 May 25;13:890996. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.890996. eCollection 2022. Front Immunol. 2022. PMID: 35693829 Free PMC article. Review.
Cellular aging over 13 years associated with incident antinuclear antibody positivity in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.
Meier HCS, Parks CG, Liu HB, Sandler DP, Simonsick EM, Deane K, Weng NP. Meier HCS, et al. J Autoimmun. 2019 Dec;105:102295. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2019.06.006. Epub 2019 Jul 11. J Autoimmun. 2019. PMID: 31303354 Free PMC article.
Longitudinal associations of lifetime adiposity with leukocyte telomere length and mitochondrial DNA copy number.
Hang D, Nan H, Kværner AS, De Vivo I, Chan AT, Hu Z, Shen H, Giovannucci E, Song M. Hang D, et al. Eur J Epidemiol. 2018 May;33(5):485-495. doi: 10.1007/s10654-018-0382-z. Epub 2018 Apr 4. Eur J Epidemiol. 2018. PMID: 29619669 Free PMC article.
Shorter telomere length following lung transplantation is associated with clinically significant leukopenia and decreased chronic lung allograft dysfunction-free survival.
Courtwright AM, Lamattina AM, Takahashi M, Trindade AJ, Hunninghake GM, Rosas IO, Agarwal S, Raby BA, Goldberg HJ, El-Chemaly S. Courtwright AM, et al. ERJ Open Res. 2020 Jun 15;6(2):00003-2020. doi: 10.1183/23120541.00003-2020. eCollection 2020 Apr. ERJ Open Res. 2020. PMID: 32577419 Free PMC article.

See all "Cited by" articles

References

1. Pincus T, Callahan LF. Taking mortality in rheumatoid arthritis seriously--predictive markers, socioeconomic status and comorbidity. J Rheumatol. 1986;13:841–5. - PubMed
1. Thewissen M, Stinissen P. New concepts on the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases: a role for immune homeostasis, immunoregulation, and immunosenescence. Crit Rev Immunol. 2008;28:363–76. - PubMed
1. Prelog M. Aging of the immune system: a risk factor for autoimmunity? Autoimmun Rev. 2006;5:136–9. - PubMed
1. Agarwal S, Busse PJ. Innate and adaptive immunosenescence. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2010;104:183–90. quiz 90–2, 210. - PubMed
1. Boren E, Gershwin ME. Inflamm-aging: autoimmunity, and the immune-risk phenotype. Autoimmun Rev. 2004;3:401–6. - PubMed

Publication types

Actions

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
- scite Smart Citations
Medical
- MedlinePlus Health Information
Research Materials
- NCI CPTC Antibody Characterization Program

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

A Prospective Study Investigating Prediagnostic Leukocyte Telomere Length and Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in Women

Affiliations

A Prospective Study Investigating Prediagnostic Leukocyte Telomere Length and Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in Women

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Similar articles

Cited by

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Medical

Research Materials

Abstract

Similar articles

Cited by

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Related information

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Medical

Research Materials