P7: Telomere Length and Aortic Valve Calcification

Background Short telomere length (TL) is associated with atherosclerosis development. Aortic valve stenosis, an age-related disease characterized by narrowing of the aortic opening, is mainly caused by aortic valve calcification. Development of aortic calcifications shares many similarities with atherogenesis, we thus hypothesize that people with short TL may have higher risk to develop aortic valve stenosis. Methods Aortic valves were obtained from 11 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery. Each valve cusp was macroscopically dissected into healthy, intermediate and calcified regions. DNA was extracted by phenol/chloroform method and TL measured by Southern blots of the terminal restriction fragments. Results TL from healthy and intermediate valve regions were similar and then merged in a non-calcified group. In all subjects, TL of calcified regions were shorter than TL in non-calcified regions. The gap between TL of non-calcified and calcified regions was 0,53kb (p<0.007). Conclusion Calcified aortic valve regions have shorter telomere length than non-calcified. Directionality of the relationship between telomere dynamics and aortic valve stenosis will be explored in vitro .