Abstract 1834: Psychological stress and its relationship to telomere length maintenance
Authors: Lin Jue , Puterman Eli , O'Donovan Aoife , Krauss Jeff , Lazaro Alanie , Truong Wanda , Cheon Joshua , Epel Elissa , Blackburn Elizabeth H. 
Published: June 2012

The length of telomeres, the protective caps of linear chromosomes, is predictive of the proliferation capacities of cells. Shorter average telomere length in leukocytes has been linked to a broad range of aging-related diseases, including being predictive of incidence and poor prognosis of a variety of cancers.

Our previous work showed that perceived psychological stress is associated with shorter telomere length in lymphocytes in caregivers of chronically sick children; thus impaired telomere maintenance potentially mediates the previously-documented detrimental effects of stress on human health. In the current study, we examined leukocyte telomere length in 63 healthy post-menopausal women, who were the primary caregivers of family member dementia patients. We previously found in this study that short telomere length is associated with high levels of IL-6 and with pessimism. In addition, among the non-exercisers, increase in the Perceived Stress Scale was related to an increase in the odds of having short telomeres, whereas in exercisers, perceived stress appeared to be unrelated to telomere length. Here we report that, longitudinally, increase in perceived stress over one year was associated with a one-year decrease in telomere length, while decrease or no change in stress was associated with a one-year increase in telomere length (p&lt;0.03).

In a recent study of young to middle-aged adults, we found that those exposed to multiple types of trauma in childhood have shorter leukocyte telomere length than those without such exposure, F(1,38)=2.86, p=0.04. In a separate study of 60 healthy, non-smoking women (ages 50 to 65), as part of a larger prospective study on telomere change and lifestyle factors, we found that leisure-time physical activity buffered the negative effects of childhood abuse (βinteraction=0.08, SE=0.03, p=0.01) and accumulated life stress (βinteraction=0.01, SE 0.00, p=0.03) on leukocyte telomere length, after covarying for BMI and age. Specifically, in those reporting a sedentary leisure lifestyle (one standard deviation below the mean), shorter leukocyte telomeres were related to childhood abuse (β=−0.11, SE=0.04, p=0.01) and accumulated life stress (β=−0.01, SE=0.00, p=0.05). However, in those who reported at least a physical activity regimen that included activity minimally 3 times a week, neither childhood abuse nor accumulated life stress was significantly related to leukocyte telomere length (p&gt;0.05).

Our results demonstrate that while traumatic and chronic stressful life events are associated with leukocyte telomere shortness, which in turn is associated with high risks of aging-related diseases including cancer, physical activity as a preventive change may moderate the impact of stress on leukocyte telomere shortening, a manifestation of cell aging.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1834. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1834