Objective To study the change and influencing factors of telomere length of peripheral white blood cells in the development of diabetes mellitus.
Methods A total of 387 volunteers were recruited from Shidong Hospital of Yangpu District from 2012 to 2014, including 65 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, 112 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) patients, and 209 control subjects. Questionnaire survey, physical examination, and blood biochemical test were conducted. DNA from peripheral white blood cells were extracted to measure telomere length by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to analyze the factors influencing telomere length.
Results The body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose, and hemoglobin A1c in the subjects with T2DM or IGT were higher than those in the control subjects, while relative telomere length was shorter (T2DM patients:0.70±0.09, IGT patients:0.88±0.10, controls:1.06±0.22, P < 0.05). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, and 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose were negatively correlated with relative telomere length in the T2DM group (b=-0.042, -0.006, -0.037, -0.034, Ps < 0.05), while age and 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose were negatively correlated with relative telomere length in the IGT group (b=-0.041, -0.042, Ps < 0.05).
Conclusion Short telomere length might be a risk factor of T2DM. Telomere shortening is affected not only by age and body mass index, but also by blood glucose level.
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