Description:
<jats:p>Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by irreversible airflow obstruction and is associated with chronic local and systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. The enhanced oxidative stress and inflammation have been reported to affect telomere length (TL). Furthermore, a number of SNPs at loci encoding the main components of the telomerase genes, <jats:italic>TERT</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>TERC</jats:italic> have been shown to correlate with TL. We aimed to explore the leukocyte TL and genotypes for single nucleotide polymorphisms, <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs12696304">rs12696304</jats:ext-link> (C > G) and <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs10936599">rs10936599</jats:ext-link> (C > T) near <jats:italic>TERC</jats:italic> in COPD cases and matched healthy controls using q-PCR technologies. Successful assessment of TL was performed for 91 patients and 88 controls. The patients had shorter TL (17919.36 ± 1203.01 bp) compared to controls (21 271.48 ± 1891.36 bp) although not significant (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.137). The TL did not associate with the gender, age, spirometric indexes, smoking habits but tended to correlate negatively with BMI (Rho = − 0.215, <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.076) in the controls, but not in COPD patients. The genotype frequencies of the SNPs <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs12696304">rs12696304</jats:ext-link> and <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs10936599">rs10936599</jats:ext-link> were compared between patients and controls and the odds ratios (OR) for developing COPD were calculated. The carriers of the common homozygous (CC) genotypes of the SNPs had higher risk for COPD, compared to carriers of the variants alleles (<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs12696304">rs12696304</jats:ext-link> CG+GG <jats:italic>vs.</jats:italic> CC; OR: 0.615, 95% CI [0.424–0.894], <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.011 and for <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs10936599">rs10936599</jats:ext-link> CT+TT <jats:italic>vs.</jats:italic> CC OR = 0.668, 95% CI [0.457–0.976], <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.044). Analysis on the combined effects of the <jats:italic>TERC</jats:italic> <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs12696304">rs12696304</jats:ext-link> (C > G) and <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs10936599">rs10936599</jats:ext-link> (C > T) genotypes, CC/CC genotype combination was associated with higher risk for COPD (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> < 0.0001) and marginally lower FEV1% pr. in patients with GOLD II (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.052). There was no association between the SNP genotypes and TL. In summary, our results suggest that COPD patients may have shorter TL, and <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs12696304">rs12696304</jats:ext-link> and <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/?term=rs10936599">rs10936599</jats:ext-link> near <jats:italic>TERC</jats:italic> may affect the risk of COPD independently of TL.</jats:p>