Analogous telomeres shortening and different metabolic profile: hypertension versus hypertension/type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbidity

Eukaryotes chromosomal ends are capped and protected by telomeres, which are noncoding DNA repeats synthesized by telomerase enzyme. The telomerase enzyme is a nucleoprotein encoded by and genes. Naturally, the length of the telomeres shortens with each cell cycle but the shortening is fastened in certain age-related diseases like hypertension (HTN) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Blood samples ( = 171) were obtained from Kuwaiti subjects with HTN, and HTN/T2DM comorbidity (HTN-DM) and healthy subjects. The leukocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured by SYBR green quantitative rtPCR, and plasma telomerase enzyme was measured by ELISA, in addition, three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in telomere-related genes; rs12696304GC, rs2736100CA, and rs6713088GC were genotyped by real-time PCR. Marked LTL shortening in subjects with HTN and HTN-DM compared to healthy subjects, = 0.043 and