Expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase positively correlates with duration of lithium treatment in bipolar disorder.

ABSTRACT: Bipolar disorder (BD) may be associated with accelerated cellular aging. However, previous studies on telomere length (TL), an important biomarker of cellular aging, have yielded mixed results in BD. We aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that BD is associated with telomere shortening and whether this is counteracted by long-term lithium treatment. We also sought to determine whether long-term lithium treatment is associated with increased expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), the catalytic subunit of telomerase. We determined TL and TERT expression in 100 BD I patients and 100 healthy controls. We also genotyped three single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with TL. TERT expression was significantly increased in BD I patients currently on lithium treatment. TERT expressio

SUBMITTER: Lundberg M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7334059 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature