Telomeres play an important role in protecting our chromosomes, but as we age, they decrease in length. In this blog we explore how and why telomeres shorten. Telomere structure Human telomeres are made up of thousands of repeats of the same DNA sequence (TTAGGG), bound by a special set of proteins called shelterin. They are […]
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an age-related disease, with data supporting the notion that COPD is a systemic disease of accelerated aging. COPD is associated with oxidative stress, which becomes amplified during exacerbations and enhances telomere shortening. A recent 2018 study shows that participants with moderate-to-severe COPD who had shorter leukocyte telomere lengths were […]