Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
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.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- 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
Published Date
- April 2017
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 9 / 4
Start / End Page
- 1130 - 1142
PubMed ID
- 28394764
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC5425118
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1945-4589
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1945-4589
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.18632/aging.101216
Language
- eng