Title |
Telomere Attrition Due to Infection
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, May 2008
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0002143 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Petteri Ilmonen, Alexander Kotrschal, Dustin J. Penn |
Abstract |
Telomeres--the terminal caps of chromosomes--become shorter as individuals age, and there is much interest in determining what causes telomere attrition since this process may play a role in biological aging. The leading hypothesis is that telomere attrition is due to inflammation, exposure to infectious agents, and other types of oxidative stress, which damage telomeres and impair their repair mechanisms. Several lines of evidence support this hypothesis, including observational findings that people exposed to infectious diseases have shorter telomeres. Experimental tests are still needed, however, to distinguish whether infectious diseases actually cause telomere attrition or whether telomere attrition increases susceptibility to infection. Experiments are also needed to determine whether telomere erosion reduces longevity. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
South Africa | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 5 | 3% |
Portugal | 1 | <1% |
Sweden | 1 | <1% |
Belarus | 1 | <1% |
Spain | 1 | <1% |
United States | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 154 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 34 | 21% |
Researcher | 34 | 21% |
Student > Master | 24 | 15% |
Student > Bachelor | 17 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 7 | 4% |
Other | 29 | 18% |
Unknown | 19 | 12% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 71 | 43% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 21 | 13% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 18 | 11% |
Environmental Science | 9 | 5% |
Immunology and Microbiology | 8 | 5% |
Other | 10 | 6% |
Unknown | 27 | 16% |