Estimation of human age according to telomere shortening in peripheral blood leukocytes of Tibetan.

Abstract: In most normal somatic cells, the terminal restriction fragments (TRF) length and age are inversely correlated, which can be used to determine individual age. However, very little is known about the quantitative relationship between human telomeres and age. The aim of the present study was to investigate age-, gender-, and ethnicity-related changes in telomere length in human peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs). Changes with age in telomere lengths were assessed by Southern blotting. The results shown that telomeres shorten in human PBLs in an age-dependent manner (r = −0.913, P