Telomerase activity and its association with psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions: A systematic review

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.017

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Volume 64, February 2016, Pages 150-163

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.017 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
The known functions of telomere and telomerase, and the technological progress in telomerase activity measurement are briefly introduced.
•
Findings linking psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions to telomerase activity are systematically reviewed.
•
Multiple potential molecular mechanisms underlying the changes in telomerase activity affected by psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors are discussed.
•
The implications of current findings, the challenges and opportunities for research in this area are presented.

Abstract

Objective

To summarise and discuss the association between telomerase activity and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors.

Method

A systematic review was carried out to identify prospective or retrospective studies and interventions published up to June 2015 that reported associations between telomerase activity and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors. Electronic data bases of PubMed, ProQuest, CINAHL and Google Scholar were searched.

Results

Twenty six studies on humans measured telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or leukocytes and examined its association with psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors. Of those studies, three reported significantly decreased telomerase activity in individuals under chronic psychological stress. Interestingly, one of the three studies found that acute laboratory psychological stress significantly increased telomerase activity. Nine studies reported mixed results on association between mental disorders and telomerase activity. Of the nine studies, five reported that major depressive disorder (MDD) was associated with significantly increased telomerase activity. In thirteen out of fourteen studies on lifestyle factors, it was reported that physical exercise, diet micronutrient supplementation, mindfulness meditation, Qigong practice or yoga mediation resulted in increase in telomerase activity. In addition, two studies on animal models showed that depression-like behaviour was associated with decreased hippocampus telomerase activity. Five animal studies showed that physical exercise increased telomerase activity by cell-type-specific and genotype-specific manners.

Conclusion

Although multi-facet results were reported on the association between telomerase activity and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors, there were some consistent findings in humans such as (1) decreased telomerase activity in individuals under chronic stress, (2) increased telomerase activity in individuals with MDD, and (3) increased telomerase activity in individuals under lifestyle interventions. Animal studies showed that physical exercise increased telomerase activity in specific cell-types. However, the exact mechanisms for the changes in telomerase activity have not been elucidated. We propose conglomerate models connecting chronic psychological stress, depression, mediation and physical exercise to telomerase activation. Several areas for future research are suggested.

Introduction

Psycho-social and psychiatric studies involving telomere biology have emerged as an exciting new research area in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying aging processes related to psychological stress or mental disorders. Although findings on the association between telomere shortening and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors have been summarised in multiple excellent reviews (Epel et al., 2009, Epel, 2009, Lin et al., 2012, Lindqvist et al., 2015, Shalev et al., 2013, Starkweather et al., 2014), there has been no systematic review exclusively focusing on the effects of psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors on telomerase activity, except a meta-analysis on the effect of a ‘mindfulness’ intervention on telomerase activity (Schutte and Malouff, 2014). The main purposes of the present article are: (1) to review the evidence for association between changes in telomerase activity and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors; (2) to discuss the possible mechanisms underlying the changes in telomerase activity, and present our perspectives on challenges and opportunities for research in this new area. A better understanding of the relationships between telomerase activity and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors may help the design of better interventions to improve health in vulnerable populations.

Section snippets

Functions of telomeres

The integrity of eukaryotic chromosome ends is governed by highly specialised DNA-protein structures called telomeres. The DNA sequence of human telomeres consists of tandem 5′-TTAGGG-3′ repeats (Blackburn, 1991). A normal telomere forms loop structures, and so the very end of a telomere is concealed and the chromosome end is not recognised as a DNA double strand break (Blackburn, 2001, Cheung and Deng, 2008, de Lange, 2004). When a telomere shortens to a critical length, the loop structures

Methods of literature search

The electronic data bases PubMed, ProQuest, CINAHL and Google Scholar up to June 2015 were searched independently by two authors of the present review for original studies and literature reviews written in English and containing key words: telomerase or telomerase activity and stress, psychological stress, mental health, psychiatric disorders, depression, depressive disorder, schizophrenia, behaviour, behavioural, lifestyle, meditation, exercise or physical activity. Manual searches for

Results

A total of twenty six studies on humans reported the association between telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or leukocytes and psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors. Of the studies, three were on psychological stress, nine on mental disorders, and fourteen on lifestyle factors such as diet micronutrient supplementation, physical exercise, mindfulness meditation, Qigong practice and yoga mediation. In addition, two studies on animals reported

Changes in telomerase activity: a novel research area in psycho-social and psychiatric studies

Although the classic function of telomerase is often considered to be elongating telomeres, accumulating evidence has revealed multiple other telomere-independent or extra-telomere functions that generally promote cell viability and proliferation, important in buffering the aging process. In particular, changes in telomerase activity in vivo have been detected about an hour after the onset of acute psychological stress (Epel et al., 2010) or several months after the onset of lifestyle

Conclusions

A growing body of research has shown that telomerase activity is related to psychological stress, specific mental disorders and lifestyle factors. There exist multiple potential molecular mechanisms underlying the changes of telomerase activity. The promising results of pilot studies warrant further large-scale investigations and the validation of potential mechanisms of telomerase activity regulation by psychological stress, mental disorders and lifestyle factors. Novel and convenient PCR-free

Funding

This study was funded by the Health and Medical Research Fund, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Project number: 11121361).

Conflicts of interest

The authors of this article have no conflict of interest.

Contributors

Conception and organization of the manuscript: W Deng and AFY Tiwari.

Literature search: W Deng and ST Cheung.

Analysis of literature: W Deng, AFY Tiwari, ST Cheung, SW Tsao, and XM Wang.

Drafting the article or revising it critically for intellectual content: W Deng, AFY Tiwari, ST Cheung, SW Tsao, and XM Wang.

Acknowledgements

We thank Ms Sau Han Cheung, Ms Ka Wai Li and Mr Kevin Luk for constructive discussions on the writing of this review.

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ReviewTelomerase activity and its association with psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions: A systematic review

Highlights

Abstract

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Section snippets

Functions of telomeres

Methods of literature search

Results

Changes in telomerase activity: a novel research area in psycho-social and psychiatric studies

Conclusions

Funding

Conflicts of interest

Contributors

Acknowledgements

Cancer Lett.

Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.

Exp. Cell Res.

Eur. J. Cancer

Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys.

Neurosci. Lett.

Blood

Cell

J. Affect. Disord.

Brain Behav. Immun.

Mutat. Res.

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Brain Behav. Immun.

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Clin. Chim. Acta

Blood

Cell

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry

J. Biol. Chem.

Brain Behav. Immun.

Int. J. Dev. Neurosci.

Mutat. Res.

Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

Cell

J. Theor. Biol.

Lancet Oncol.

Lancet Oncol.

Brain Behav. Immun.

Neoplasia

Gene

Schizophr. Res.

Biochem. Pharmacol.

Cell Signal

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Brain Behav. Immun.

Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol.

Telomeres and telomerase: basic science implications for aging

J. Am. Geriatr. Soc.

Cytokines modulate telomerase activity in a human multiple myeloma cell line

Cancer Res.

Nuclear factor-kappaB p65 mediates tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced nuclear translocation of telomerase reverse transcriptase protein

Cancer Res.

Single-molecule analysis of human telomerase monomer

Nat. Chem. Biol.

Interactions between vitamin D and IGF-I: from physiology to clinical practice

Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.)

Enhanced antioxidant capacity and anti-ageing biomarkers after diet micronutrient supplementation

Molecules

Structure and function of telomeres

Nature

Telomeres and telomerase: the means to the end (Nobel lecture)

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl.

Mediterranean diet, telomere maintenance and health status among elderly

PLoS One

Extension of life-span by introduction of telomerase into normal human cells

Science

Telomerase activity in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.

Review
Telomerase activity and its association with psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions: A systematic review