RELATIVE TELOMERE LENGTH IN LEUKOCYTES FROM PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the most important causes of vision loss in older adults; it occurs when there is a chronic microvascularization in the retina, derived from Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Type 1 and Type 2; in addition to other factors such as stress, inflation, methylation, among others. Telomeres are repetitions of DNA, which are found at the ends of chromosomes and their main role is to protect the chromosome from damage or fusion with each other in each cell division; these telomeres suffer from wear and tear, which leads to physiological aging. OBJECTIVE: To identify the difference in relative telomere lengths between two groups, diabetic patients with DR and metabolically healthy patients. METHODOLOGY: It is a prospective study, with 32 metabolically healthy patients and 34 with DR, all participants signed an informed consent form. Peripheral blood was obtained for DNA extraction from leukocytes. Longitudinal telomere measurement was performed using real-time PCR (qPCR). RESULTS: In the metabolically healthy group 59% of women, while in the DR group it was 41%, with median ages of 46.5 and 53 years, respectively. 66% of the patients presented with telomere length measurement. Sixty-six percent of the patients had advanced proliferative DR. The median relative telomere lengths were 0.9650 in the healthy group and 1.620 in the DR group, although these lengths did not reach statistical significance (p=0.0519). CONCLUSIONS: With these results, we concluded that the median age and sex of both groups indicated an association in the development of the disease and not the relative telomere length. To ensure and confirm these results, we must expand the sample size for both groups.

Keywords: Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetes Mellitus, Telomere