Researchers: Sandra Haupt, Tobias Niedrist, Harald Sourij, Stephan Schwarzinger, Othmar Moser
Aging as a major risk factor influences the probability of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, amongst others. The underlying mechanisms of disease are still not fully understood, but research suggests that delaying the aging process could ameliorate these pathologies. A key biological process in aging is cellular senescence which is associated with several stressors such as telomere shortening or enhanced DNA methylation. Telomere length as well as DNA methylation levels can be used as biological age predictors which are able to detect excessive acceleration or deceleration of aging. Analytical methods examining aging are often not suitable, expensive, time-consuming or require a high level of technical expertise. Therefore, research focusses on combining analytical methods which have the potential to simultaneously analyse epigenetic, genomic as well as metabolic changes.
References
- Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, and Leukocyte Telomere Length: The Cardiovascular Health Study.
- Movement-Based Behaviors and Leukocyte Telomere Length among US Adults.
- Telomere length and long-term endurance exercise: does exercise training affect biological age? A pilot study.
- Regular, Intense Exercise Training as a Healthy Aging Lifestyle Strategy: Preventing DNA Damage, Telomere Shortening and Adverse DNA Methylation Changes Over a Lifetime.
Topic: Exercise and Telomere Length