Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Sep 1;216(5):565-572.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jix255.

Persistent Herpesvirus Infections and Telomere Attrition Over 3 Years in the Whitehall II Cohort

Jennifer B Dowd  1   2 , Jos A Bosch  3   4   5 , Andrew Steptoe  6 , Bamini Jayabalasingham  2 , Jue Lin  7 , Robert Yolken  8 , Allison E Aiello  9
Affiliations

Persistent Herpesvirus Infections and Telomere Attrition Over 3 Years in the Whitehall II Cohort

Jennifer B Dowd et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

The determinants of telomere attrition, a potential marker of cellular aging, are not well understood. Persistent herpesvirus infections including cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may be particularly important for telomere dynamics via mechanisms such as inflammation, oxidative stress, and their impact on peripheral blood lymphocyte composition. This study examined the association of 4 human herpesviruses (CMV, herpes simplex virus type 1, human herpesvirus type 6, and Epstein-Barr virus) with change in leukocyte telomere length (LTL) over 3 years in 400 healthy individuals (aged 53-76 years) from the Whitehall II cohort. CMV, herpes simplex virus type 1, and human herpesvirus 6 infection were independently associated with greater 3-year LTL attrition, with no association found for Epstein-Barr virus. The magnitudes of these associations were large, for example, the equivalent of almost 12 years of chronological age for those CMV seropositive. Seropositivity to more herpesviruses was additively associated with greater LTL attrition (3 herpesviruses vs none, β = -0.07 and P = .02; 4 infections vs none, β = -0.14 and P < .001). Higher immunoglobulin G antibody levels among those seropositive to CMV were also associated with shorter LTL at follow-up. These associations were robust to adjustment for age, sex, employment grade, body mass index, and smoking status. These results suggest that exposure to infectious agents should be an important consideration in future studies of telomere dynamics.

Keywords: Epstein-Barr virus; Whitehall II; cytomegalovirus; herpes simplex virus; telomeres.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Number of herpesvirus infections at baseline and mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL) change (telomere [T]/single copy gene [S] ratio) over 3 years.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Association of herpesvirus coinfections at baseline and leukocyte telomere length (LTL; telomere [T]/single copy gene [S] ratio) at follow-up (β coefficient; linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, and LTL at baseline). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. Abbreviations: CMV, cytomegalovirus; EBV, Epstein-Barr virus; HHV-6, human herpesvirus type 6; HSV, herpes simplex virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Blackburn EH, Greider CW, Szostak JW. Telomeres and telomerase: the path from maize, Tetrahymena and yeast to human cancer and aging. Nat Med 2006; 12:1133–8. - PubMed
    1. Gabriele S, Thomas Z. Replicative aging, telomeres, and oxidative stress. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2002; 959:24–9. - PubMed
    1. Donate LE, Blasco MA. Telomeres in cancer and ageing. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:76–84. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bojesen SE. Telomeres and human health. J Intern Med 2013; 274:399–413. - PubMed
    1. Cawthon RM, Smith KR, O’Brien E, Sivatchenko A, Kerber RA. Association between telomere length in blood and mortality in people aged 60 years or older. Lancet 2003; 361:393–5. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances