Telomere theory is one of the popular theories of aging. Recently, a new study was conducted on the relationship between the telomere length and the maximum lifespan of humans.
Authors: Troels Steenstrup, Jeremy D. Kark, Simon Verhulst, Mikael Thinggaard, Jacob V. B. Hjelmborg, Christine Dalgård, Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, Lene Christiansen, Massimo Mangino, Timothy D. Spector, Inge Petersen, Masayuki Kimura, Athanase Benetos, Carlos Labat, Ronit Sinnreich, Shih-Jen Hwang, Daniel Levy, Steven C. Hunt, Annette L. Fitzpatrick, Wei Chen, Gerald S. Berenson, Michelangela Barbieri, Giuseppe Paolisso, Shahinaz M. Gadalla, Sharon A. Savage, Kaare Christensen, Anatoliy I. Yashin, Konstantin G. Arbeev, Abraham Aviv
Abstract
An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus, secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.
