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Review
. 2023 Jul:88:101942.
doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2023.101942. Epub 2023 May 10.

A review and meta-analysis: Cross-tissue telomere length correlations in healthy humans

Lauren W Y McLester-Davis  1 , Pedro Estrada  2 , Waylon J Hastings  3 , Leila A Kataria  4 , Noelle A Martin  5 , Joshua T Siebeneicher  6 , Renee I Tristano  7 , Celia V Mayne  8 , Raquel P Horlick  9 , Samantha S O'Connell  10 , Stacy S Drury  11
Affiliations
Review

A review and meta-analysis: Cross-tissue telomere length correlations in healthy humans

Lauren W Y McLester-Davis et al. Ageing Res Rev. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

Background and aim: Tissue source has been shown to exert a significant effect on the magnitude of associations between telomere length and various health outcomes and exposures. The purpose of the present qualitative review and meta-analysis is to describe and investigate the impact of study design and methodological features on the correlation between telomere lengths measured in different tissues from the same healthy individual.

Methods: This meta-analysis included studies published from 1988 to 2022. Databases searched included PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science and studies were identified using the keywords "telomere length" and "tissues" or "tissue." A total of 220 articles of 7856 initially identified studies met inclusion criteria for qualitative review, of which 55 met inclusion criteria for meta-analysis in R RESULTS: Studies meeting inclusion criteria for meta-analysis tended to have enhanced demographic and methodological reporting relative to studies only included in the qualitative review. A total of 463 pairwise correlations reported for 4324 unique individuals and 102 distinct tissues were extracted from the 55 studies and subject to meta-analysis, resulting in a significant effect size z = 0.66 (p < 0.0001) and meta-correlation coefficient of r = 0.58. Meta-correlations were significantly moderated by sample size and telomere length measurement methodology, with studies of smaller size and those using hybridization-based analyses exhibiting the largest meta-correlation. Tissue source also significantly moderated the meta-correlation, wherein correlations between samples of a different lineage (e.g., blood vs. non-blood) or collection method (e.g., peripheral vs. surgical) were lower than correlations between samples of the same lineage or collection method.

Conclusion: These results suggest that telomere lengths measured within individuals are generally correlated, but future research should be intentional in selecting a tissue for telomere length measurement that is most biologically relevant to the exposure or outcome investigated and balance this with the feasibility of obtaining the sample in sufficient numbers of individuals.

Keywords: Correlation; Meta-analysis; Telomere length; Telomere(s); Tissue(s).

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:The authors report financial support was provided by the National Institute on Aging. The authors report administrative support was provided by the Tulane University Meta-Analysis Systematic Review Support Program.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
PRISMA Flow Diagram. Template taken from The PRISMA 2020 statement (Page et al., 2021).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Forest Plot of Correlation Coefficients Between All Tissue Telomere Lengths by Study and Year of Publication. Numbers after the year of publication indicate the number of that correlation collected within the study, i.e. Effros et al. (1996) 6 indicates the sixth correlation collected from this study.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Funnel Plot of Effect Sizes for Correlations. Funnel plot for the included studies reporting the calculated effect sizes (observed outcome) in relation to the calculated standard error.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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