Genetic Determinants of Telomere Length in African American Youth.

ABSTRACT: Telomere length (TL) is associated with numerous disease states and is affected by genetic and environmental factors. However, TL has been mostly studied in adult populations of European or Asian ancestry. These studies have identified 34 TL-associated genetic variants recently used as genetic proxies for TL. The generalizability of these associations to pediatric populations and racially diverse populations, specifically of African ancestry, remains unclear. Furthermore, six novel variants associated with TL in a population of European children have been identified but not validated. We measured TL from whole blood samples of 492 healthy African American youth (children and adolescents between 8 and 20 years old) and performed the first genome-wide association study of TL in this populati

SUBMITTER: Zeiger AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6125592 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature