端粒生物学与胸主动脉瘤的研究进展

摘要：随着细胞生理性衰老，端粒（telomere）即染色体末端的重复性 DNA 序列会出现累积性损伤，而血管内皮细胞、平滑肌细胞衰老相关的端粒损伤和修复则被认为是退行性血管疾病发病的分子机制之一。胸主动脉瘤为老年人群中的重要致死性疾病之一，与衰老相关的退行性变在其中发挥着重要的作用。因此本文主要对端粒/端粒酶在胸主动脉瘤发病和进展中的作用做了概述，总结了血管病理学中端粒/端粒酶的调控机制。

Progress of Telomere Biology in Pathogenesis of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm

ABSTRACT: Biological aging results in progressive attrition of telomeres, which are the repetitive DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes. The aging-related telomere damage and repair of vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells is considered to be one of the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of degenerative vascular diseases. The aging-related degeneration plays an important role in thoracic aortic aneurysm(TAA), one of the most important fatal diseases in the elderly. This paper reviewed telomeres/telomerase in formation and progression of TAA, and summarizes the regulatory mechanisms of telomere/telomerase in vascular pathology.