Changes of telomere length in children after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Telomeres are responsible for keeping the stability not only of chromosomes but also of genes. To investigate the effect of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) on telomeres, we studied telomere length in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 31 children who received HSCT. In the auto-HSCT groups telomere length ranged from 8.6 to 12.0 kb and in the allo-HSCT groups from 8.4 to 12.0 kb. Comparison of the telomere length between before and after auto-HSCT showed shorting up to 1.0 kb. Moreover, comparison between donors and recipients in allo-HSCT revealed that telomeres of recipients were up to 1.0 kb shorter than those of the donors. Patients who received allo-HSCT from donors older than 18 years had significantly shorter telomeres than those transplanted from donors under 18 years old (P < 0.05), indicating that donor age is an important factor for recipient's telomere length. These findings suggest that the effects which might be induced by shortening of telomeres in recipients are within the biologically tolerable range. However, if hematopoietic stem cells from elderly donors are transplanted into younger patients, the telomere length may become too short for acceptable lifetime risks of genetic instability in the recipient.