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An Analysis of Telomere Length in Sarcoidosis

¹ Division of Molecular and Clinical Gerontology, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and ² Division of Clinical Genetics, Department of Molecular and Clinical Genetics, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Oita, Japan.

Address correspondence to Toyoki Maeda, MD, PhD, 4546, Tsurumihara, Beppu, Oita, 874-0838, Japan. E-mail: maedat{at}beppu.kyushu-u.ac.jp

We investigated telomere (terminal restriction fragment [TRF]) length in 111 patients with sarcoidosis regarding both the mean TRF length and the telomere length distribution. A significant decrease was observed in the mean TRF length in sarcoidosis patients in comparison to the age-matched controls, whereas a decreased telomere length was only associated with age in men. The mean TRF shortening seemed to be accelerated in men in their 30s and 50s and in women in their 40s and 50s. We also found a significant decrease with age of telomeres with lengths of 9.4–6.6 kb in men and women in their 20s and an increase of telomeres with lengths of 4.4–2.3 kb in men and women in their 20s and in men in their 50s in sarcoidosis patients versus in the controls who were in their 20s and 50s. These findings suggest the occurrence of age-advanced changes in telomere length in patients with sarcoidosis, regardless of the patient age at the onset of sarcoidosis.