Impact of vascular aging on cardiovascular disease: the role of telomere biology.
Cardiovascular risk increases with chronological as well as biological aging, and one marker of this might be telomere length. The telomere cap is located at the end of the DNA helix and serves to protect its end. This is an evolutionary adaptation which has resulted in stabilization of the DNA strand within the chromosome. During the life course, telomeres tend to shorten in most cells, with the
