Grant: Operating Grant: Industry-partnered Collaborative Research - Other Partner

Telomeres are the chromosome caps that are necessary to keep chromosomes from unraveling. As with each cell division a piece of the telomere end is lost, the length of telomeres is a marker of biological aging of the cells and the organism as a whole. Recently, the telomere length has been linked to several frequent human diseases involving heart and circulatory system. In this project, we will assess the predictive value of the shortening of telomeres over time for frequent complications affecting the heart, blood vessels and the kidneys of patients suffering from type 2 diabetes. We will build upon our access to data and DNA samples from a large clinical study on the treatment of diabetes and high blood pressure, called ADVANCE. We will measure the telomere lengths in several thousands of study participants repeatedly during a five year period and assess how this information together with other characteristics (genetic, clinical) can help to predict cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients. The accrued knowledge will serve as a stepping stone for establishing telomere attrition rate as a novel tool for prediction of cardiovascular complications of diabetes.