Telomere length inversely correlates with pulse pressure and is highly familial

There is evidence that telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, serve as clocks that pace cellular aging in vitro and in vivo. In industrialized nations, p ulse pressure rises with age, and it might serve as a phenotype of biologic al aging of the vasculature. We therefore conducted a twin study to investi gate the relation between telomere length in white blood cells and pulse pr essure while simultaneously assessing the role of genetic factors in determ ining telomere length. We measured by Southern blot analysis the mean lengt h of the terminal restriction fragments (TRF) in white blood cells of 49 tw in pairs from the Danish Twin Register and assessed the relations of blood pressure parameters with TRF. TRF length showed an inverse relation with pu lse pressure. Both TRF length and pulse pressure were highly familial. We c onclude that telomere length, which is under genetic control, might play a role in mechanisms that regulate pulse pressure, including vascular aging.