Chronic inflammation mediates the relationship between physical activity and telomere length.

Anamika Nanda, Daniel H Aslan, M Katherine Sayre, Pradyumna K Bharadwaj, Madeline Ally, Hyun Song, Amit Arora, Silvio Maltagliati, Mark H C Lai, Rand R Wilcox, Yann C Klimentidis, Gene E Alexander, David A Raichlen

Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. [email protected]. · pubmed

Paper

Abstract

A physically active lifestyle benefits cellular aging, however the mechanisms linking physical activity (PA) with longevity remain unclear. PA is associated with longer telomere length (TL), while shorter TL has been associated with increased cellular aging. Some research suggests increased levels of inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), are associated with telomere dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that CRP levels mediate the association between PA and TL. Using data from the UK Biobank, we analyzed adjusted leukocyte T/S ratio (relative telomere to single gene copy), serum CRP, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) data via device-measured actigraphy. We applied general linear regressions and a causal mediation analysis with 10,000 bootstraps while controlling for a range of covariates (age, BMI, smoking status, sex, ethnicity, time between data collection, time wearing the accelerometer, and the Townsend Deprivation Index). Variables of interest were transformed to approximate normality. A total of 79,873 participants were included in the final analytic sample. MVPA and CRP were both significant predictors of TL (β

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Research summary

Chronic inflammation, as mediated by CRP levels, influences the relationship between physical activity and telomere length. This paper is relevant as it explores mechanisms linking physical activity to cellular aging, specifically through telomere dynamics, which are critical in understanding longevity and age-related biological processes.

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