Studies at the Intermountain Medical Center have shown that the longer a heart disease patient’s telomeres (the strands of DNA found on the ends of chromosomes) the greater chance they have of surviving. In the past this telomere length has been used as a measure of age but now research shows it may also predict life expectancy.
But why though? Because telomeres protect chromosomes from damage as people age, the length shortens and thus it is a good marker for age-related diseases (i.e. heart disease, cancer) as well as damages that accelerate biological aging. Since this telomere shortening signals the end of life for a cell, doctors can see when patients are at higher risk for these diseases. So it also shows their probability for survival says Dr. Carlquist. Researchers at Intermountain believe this can measure the rate of change over time which is more effective than looking at the telomeres at just a moment in time.
Doctors could already use cholesterol tests and blood pressure to see how heart care treatment is working but in the future they can use this tactic to measure the effectiveness which provides a much deep view.
From what we have learned in class about the purpose of telomeres in cells at determining age of cell and life expectancy, I can see this being an effective method in the future. As I read the article though I couldn’t help thinking that although this is an effective method, is it really that necessary of a discovery? Yes it probably will lead to greater discoveries with regard to heart disease patients and what not but the scientists in the article said they could already determine life expectancy with other tests. Maybe the article just didn’t explain it enough for me to see that this is completely necessary. Either way I think it will lead to positive future solutions for such diseases.
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