Is the telomere length associated with neurocognitive disabilities in HIV-1-infected subjects?

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Marilia Ladeira de Araújo, Wellington Duarte, Augusto César Penalva de Oliveira, Maria Rita Polo Gascón, Luiz Augusto Marcondes Fonseca, Raquel de Melo Alves Paiva, Bárbara Santana, Rodrigo Tocantins Calado, Jorge Casseb
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2018
• Subjects: Cell aging; Neurocognitive disorders; Real-time polymerase chain reaction; AIDS; Dementia complex; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-9946201860016; https://doaj.org/article/402e9ae7d7e04eb58695e2a2b5034ebe

ABSTRACT Objective: We evaluated the association between cognitive deficits and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in HIV-1-infected individuals. Design: 73 HIV-1-infected patients undergoing neuropsychological evaluation and 91 healthy controls were included in this study. Fifteen HIV-1 positive patients did not have cognitive disorders whereas 26 had asymptomatic neurocognitive disorder (ANI), 13 presented mild to moderate neurocognitive disorder (MND), and 10 had HIV-associated dementia (HAD). Methods: DNA from the peripheral blood of HIV-1-infected patients was used for measurement of telomere length by real-time PCR. HIV-1 viral load was determined in blood. Results: LTL decreased with age in healthy controls (p=0.0001). Regardless of the HIV status, age-matched LTL from HIV patients, including those with ANI and MND, were shortened in comparison to the healthy control group (p=0.0073); however, no association was found among the HIV-1-infected individuals with cognitive deficits (p=0.01). In addition, no gender-related association with LTL was observed (p=0.80), smoking, physical exercise, and plasma viral load were not correlated to telomere length (p=0.66). Conclusions: We concluded that leukocyte telomere length may not be a marker of cellular senescence in individuals with HIV infection and neurocognitive disorders.