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Review
. 2022 Sep;14(17):1039-1054.
doi: 10.2217/epi-2022-0073. Epub 2022 Sep 30.

Telomere therapy for chronic kidney disease

Olutope Arinola Akinnibosun  1 , Michelle C Maier  1 , James Eales  2 , Maciej Tomaszewski  2   3 , Fadi J Charchar  1   4   5
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Telomere therapy for chronic kidney disease

Olutope Arinola Akinnibosun et al. Epigenomics. 2022 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is estimated to affect almost 10% of individuals worldwide and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Renal fibrosis, a central pathway in CKD progression (irrespective of etiology), is associated with shortened or dysfunctional telomeres in animal studies. Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures located at the chromosome end that maintain genomic integrity. The mechanisms of associations between telomere length and CKD have not yet been fully elucidated, however, CKD patients with shorter telomere length may have decreased renal function and a higher mortality rate. A plethora of ongoing research has focused on possible therapeutic applications of telomeres with the overall goal to preserve telomere length as a therapy to treat CKD.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; renal fibrosis; telomere length; telomere therapy.

Plain language summary

Chronic kidney disease or CKD is one of the leading causes of illness and death worldwide. Scarring of the kidney tissue that occurs in CKD has been associated with shorter telomeres in studies using rats. Telomeres, said to act as the cellular ‘shoelace caps’, maintain the structure of chromosomes, allowing for genetic material inside cells to divide correctly. The length of telomeres (TL) is influenced by diverse factors such as genetics and lifestyle. The underlying processes for the associations between TL and CKD are still not understood, however, patients with CKD and shorter TL have reduced kidney function and an increased death rate. Therefore, research is focused on possible ways to preserve TL and treat CKD.

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