Telomere health refers to the structural integrity and appropriate length of telomeres, the protective nucleoprotein caps found at the ends of linear chromosomes. These structures function as a biological clock, shortening with each cell division and in response to oxidative stress and inflammation, thereby limiting cellular lifespan and driving replicative senescence. Maintaining optimal telomere health is a key biomarker in the study of biological aging, as telomere shortening is intrinsically linked to cellular dysfunction, genomic instability, and the onset of age-related diseases. Lifestyle factors and hormonal balance are known to influence the rate of telomere attrition.
Origin
The term is a compound of “telomere,” derived from the Greek telos (end) and meros (part), and “health,” indicating a state of optimal function. The discovery of telomeres and the enzyme telomerase in the 1980s and 1990s revolutionized the understanding of cellular aging and earned a Nobel Prize. This concept is foundational to the fields of molecular gerontology and longevity medicine.
Mechanism
Telomere length is regulated by the balance between the shortening that occurs during DNA replication, due to the end-
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