Research Article

Inflamm-Aging Is Associated with Lower Plasma PTX3 Concentrations and an Impaired Capacity of PBMCs to Express hTERT following LPS Stimulation

Figure 4

hTERT gene expression changes following 4-hour stimulation of isolated PBMCs with LPS and the associations with age and relative telomere length. hTERT gene expression was impaired in middle-aged and young adults following ex vivo stimulation of isolated PBMCs with LPS, PTX3, and PTX3+LPS (a). LPS-stimulated hTERT gene expression was negatively associated with age (b) and positively associated with relative telomere lengths (T/S ratio) (c). Likewise, the relationship between LPS-stimulated hTERT gene expression with age remained significant and tended toward a significant relationship with relative telomere length when controlling for differences in body fat percentage. indicates a significant difference in middle-aged compared to young adults; # indicates a significant difference compared to unstimulated control culture conditions ().
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