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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity; A Yin and Yang of Cell Senescence
Published on: May 22, 2013
Is telomere length a biomarker of aging? A review
Karen Anne Mather1, Anthony Francis Jorm, Ruth Adeline Parslow
1Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. karen.mather@unsw.edu.au
Abstract:
Telomeres, the DNA-protein structures located at the ends of chromosomes, have been proposed to act as a biomarker of aging. In this review, the human evidence that telomere length is a biomarker of aging is evaluated. Although telomere length is implicated in cellular aging, the evidence suggesting telomere length is a biomarker of aging in humans is equivocal. More studies examining the relationships between telomere length and mortality and with measures that decline with "normal" aging in community samples are required. These studies would benefit from longitudinal measures of both telomere length and aging-related parameters.
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