Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans

Troels Steenstrup; Jeremy D Kark; Simon Verhulst; Mikael Thinggaard; Jacob V B Hjelmborg; Christine Dalgård; Kirsten Ohm Kyvik; Lene Christiansen; Massimo Mangino; Timothy D Spector; Inge Petersen; Masayuki Kimura; Athanase Benetos; Carlos Labat; Ronit Sinnreich; Shih-Jen Hwang; Daniel Levy; Steven C Hunt; Annette L Fitzpatrick; Wei Chen; Gerald S Berenson; Michelangela Barbieri; Giuseppe Paolisso; Shahinaz M Gadalla; Sharon A Savage; Kaare Christensen; Anatoliy I Yashin; Konstantin G Arbeev; Abraham Aviv

doi:10.18632/aging.101216

Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans

Troels Steenstrup, Jeremy D Kark, Simon Verhulst, Mikael Thinggaard, Jacob V B Hjelmborg, Christine Dalgård, Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, Lene Christiansen, Massimo Mangino, Timothy D Spector, Inge Petersen, Masayuki Kimura, Athanase Benetos, Carlos Labat, Ronit Sinnreich, Shih-Jen Hwang, Daniel Levy, Steven C Hunt, Annette L Fitzpatrick, Wei ChenGerald S Berenson, Michelangela Barbieri, Giuseppe Paolisso, Shahinaz M Gadalla, Sharon A Savage, Kaare Christensen, Anatoliy I Yashin, Konstantin G Arbeev, Abraham Aviv

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Abstract

An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.

Original language	English
Journal	Aging
Volume	9
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	1130-1142
ISSN	1945-4589
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101216
Publication status	Published - 2017

Keywords

Journal Article
Sex
Leukocytes
Longevity
Life-expectancy
Maximal lifespan

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10.18632/aging.101216Licence: CC BY

Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humansFinal published version, 2.54 MBLicence: CC BY

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Steenstrup, T., Kark, J. D., Verhulst, S., Thinggaard, M., Hjelmborg, J. V. B., Dalgård, C., Kyvik, K. O., Christiansen, L., Mangino, M., Spector, T. D., Petersen, I., Kimura, M., Benetos, A., Labat, C., Sinnreich, R., Hwang, S-J., Levy, D., Hunt, S. C., Fitzpatrick, A. L., ... Aviv, A. (2017). Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans. Aging, 9(4), 1130-1142. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101216

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title = "Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans",

abstract = "An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.",

keywords = "leukocytes, life-expectancy, longevity, maximal lifespan, sex, Journal Article, Sex, Leukocytes, Longevity, Life-expectancy, Maximal lifespan",

author = "Troels Steenstrup and Kark, {Jeremy D} and Simon Verhulst and Mikael Thinggaard and Hjelmborg, {Jacob V B} and Christine Dalg{\aa}rd and Kyvik, {Kirsten Ohm} and Lene Christiansen and Massimo Mangino and Spector, {Timothy D} and Inge Petersen and Masayuki Kimura and Athanase Benetos and Carlos Labat and Ronit Sinnreich and Shih-Jen Hwang and Daniel Levy and Hunt, {Steven C} and Fitzpatrick, {Annette L} and Wei Chen and Berenson, {Gerald S} and Michelangela Barbieri and Giuseppe Paolisso and Gadalla, {Shahinaz M} and Savage, {Sharon A} and Kaare Christensen and Yashin, {Anatoliy I} and Arbeev, {Konstantin G} and Abraham Aviv",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.18632/aging.101216",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

pages = "1130--1142",

journal = "Aging",

issn = "1945-4589",

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Steenstrup, T, Kark, JD, Verhulst, S, Thinggaard, M , Hjelmborg, JVB , Dalgård, C , Kyvik, KO, Christiansen, L, Mangino, M, Spector, TD, Petersen, I, Kimura, M, Benetos, A, Labat, C, Sinnreich, R, Hwang, S-J, Levy, D, Hunt, SC, Fitzpatrick, AL, Chen, W, Berenson, GS, Barbieri, M, Paolisso, G, Gadalla, SM, Savage, SA, Christensen, K, Yashin, AI, Arbeev, KG & Aviv, A 2017, 'Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans', Aging, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1130-1142. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101216

TY - JOUR

T1 - Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans

AU - Steenstrup, Troels

AU - Kark, Jeremy D

AU - Verhulst, Simon

AU - Thinggaard, Mikael

AU - Hjelmborg, Jacob V B

AU - Dalgård, Christine

AU - Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm

AU - Christiansen, Lene

AU - Mangino, Massimo

AU - Spector, Timothy D

AU - Petersen, Inge

AU - Kimura, Masayuki

AU - Benetos, Athanase

AU - Labat, Carlos

AU - Sinnreich, Ronit

AU - Hwang, Shih-Jen

AU - Levy, Daniel

AU - Hunt, Steven C

AU - Fitzpatrick, Annette L

AU - Chen, Wei

AU - Berenson, Gerald S

AU - Barbieri, Michelangela

AU - Paolisso, Giuseppe

AU - Gadalla, Shahinaz M

AU - Savage, Sharon A

AU - Christensen, Kaare

AU - Yashin, Anatoliy I

AU - Arbeev, Konstantin G

AU - Aviv, Abraham

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.

AB - An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.

KW - leukocytes

KW - life-expectancy

KW - longevity

KW - maximal lifespan

KW - sex

KW - Journal Article

KW - Sex

KW - Leukocytes

KW - Longevity

KW - Life-expectancy

KW - Maximal lifespan

U2 - 10.18632/aging.101216

DO - 10.18632/aging.101216

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28394764

VL - 9

SP - 1130

EP - 1142

JO - Aging

JF - Aging

SN - 1945-4589

IS - 4

ER -

Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans

Abstract

Keywords

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