Correlation between telomere length and mitochondrial copy number in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Background: Telomeres (TL) shorten with age and in response to cellular stress or adverse health conditions. Accordingly, telomeres may be used as a measure for aging and stress. Mitochondria are multifunctional organelles that are extensively integrated with many cellular activities, that have key roles in aging. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and heteroplasmy increase with age, making mtDNA copy number a potential target for at biomarker for ageing and stress. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between TL and mitochondrial DNA copy number.
Methods: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for measurement of TL and mtDNA on Stratagene PCR System. We examined the correlation between TL and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number for 84 samples of DNA from participants undergoing a life transition (study group) or no life transition (control group).
Results: A weak statistically significant correlation between TL and mtDNA was observed for the control group of individuals (n=37, R2= 0.118, p=0.021). For the life transitions study group no statistically significant correlation was found.
Conclusions: The tendency of decreasing TL with increasing mtDNA observed in the study population at the time of inclusion, needs to be confirmed in larger populations to support these findings.