Blood test that tells you how long you'll live

The controversial test measures vital structures on the tips of a person's chromosomes, called telomeres, which scientists believe are one of the most important and accurate indicators of the speed at which a person is ageing.

Scientists behind the €500 (£435) test said it will be possible to tell whether a person's "biological age", as measured by the length of their telomeres, is older or younger than their actual chronological age.

Medical researchers believe that telomere testing will become widespread within the next five or 10 years, but there are already some scientists who question its value and whether there should be stronger ethical controls over its wider use. In addition to concerns about how people will react to a test for how "old" they really are, some scientists are worried that telomere testing may be hijacked by unscrupulous organisations trying to peddle unproven anti-ageing remedies and other fake elixirs of life.

The results of the tests might also be of interest to companies offering life-insurance policies or medical cover that depend on a person's lifetime risk of falling seriously ill or dying prematurely. However, there is a growing body of scientific opinion that says testing the length of a person's telomeres could provide vital insights into the risk of dying prematurely from a range of age-related disorders, from cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer's and cancer. "We know that people who are born with shorter telomeres than normal also have a shorter lifespan. We know that shorter telomeres can cause a shorter lifespan," said Maria Blasco of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, who is the inventor of the new commercial telomere test. "But we don't know whether longer telomeres are going to give you a longer lifespan. That's not really known in humans," she added.

Telomeres: a short history
* 2003 Scientists studying 20-year-old blood samples from 143 people show that telomere length is good indicator of whether someone is likely to live for 15 years or more once they reach 60.

* 2004 Women living with stress of having a sick child are found to have shorter telomeres. Other research suggests that meditation or other forms of stress reduction may lengthen telomeres.

* 2007 Study of men in Scotland shows those with the longest telomeres were half as likely to develop heart disease than those with shorter telomeres. Telomere length was as good as cholesterol levels at predicting the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

* 2009 Short telomeres linked with inherited bone marrow disease.

* 2010 GM mice with no telomerase, an enzyme that elongates telomeres in some cells, age prematurely compared to normal mice. The ageing effects were reversed after injections of telomerase.

Source

Latest 50 published articles on the subject:

1. Expression of Telomeres in Astrocytoma WHO Grade 2 to 4: TERRA Level Correlates with Telomere Length, Telomerase Activity, and Advanced Clinical Grade.
2. Short fetal leukocyte telomere length and preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes.
3. Telomere length and risk of stroke in chinese.
4. Telomerase Reactivation following Telomere Dysfunction Yields Murine Prostate Tumors with Bone Metastases.
5. Telomere proteins POT1, TRF1 and TRF2 augment long-patch base excision repair in vitro.
6. Multiplex time-reducing quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay for determination of telomere length in blood and tissue DNA.
7. Human telomere disease due to disruption of the CCAAT box of the TERC promoter.
8. Association of Leukocyte Telomere Length with Type 2 Diabetes in Mainland Chinese Populations.
9. Leukocyte Telomere Length Predicts Overall Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Transarterial Chemoembolisation.
10. Genetic variants implicated in telomere length associated with left ventricular function in patients with hypertension and cardiac organ damage.
11. Hepatocellular Telomere Length in Biliary Atresia Measured by Q-FISH.
12. [Telomere biology of the chicken].
13. Tel1ATM and Rad3ATR phosphorylate the telomere protein Ccq1 to recruit telomerase and elongate telomeres in fission yeast.
14. Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and leukocyte telomere length in women.
15. Stress appraisals and cellular aging: A key role for anticipatory threat in the relationship between psychological stress and telomere length.
16. Telomere length shortening in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies.
17. Emerging roles of SIRT6 on telomere maintenance, DNA repair, metabolism and mammalian aging.
18. Telomere dysfunctional environment induces loss of quiescence and inherent impairments of hematopoietic stem cell function.
19. IL-7Rα deficiency in p53(null) mice exacerbates thymocyte telomere erosion and lymphomagenesis.
20. Correction: Sirtuin 1 Is Upregulated in a Subset of Hepatocellular Carcinomas where It Is Essential for Telomere Maintenance and Tumor Cell Growth.
21. Surrogate tissue telomere length and cancer risk: Shorter or Longer?
22. Construction of rice minichromosomes by telomere mediated chromosomal truncation.
23. Telomere Length and Genetic Variation in Telomere Maintenance Genes in Relation to Ovarian Cancer Risk.
24. Mutations in CTC1, encoding conserved telomere maintenance component 1, cause Coats plus.
25. ATM regulates proteasome-dependent subnuclear localization of TRF1, which is important for telomere maintenance.
26. Telomerase and telomere-associated proteins: structural insights into mechanism and evolution.
27. Energy intake and leukocyte telomere length in young adults.
28. Telomere dysfunction and its role in haematological cancer.
29. Telomere length in early life predicts lifespan.
30. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tel2 plays roles in TORC signaling and telomere maintenance that can be mutationally separated.
31. Analysis of relative telomere length and apoptosis in humans exposed to ionising radiation.
32. Development of Intergeneric and Intrageneric Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) Cat Embryos and the Determination of Telomere Length in Cloned Offspring.
33. Schizosaccharomyces pombe Ccq1 and TER1 bind the 14-3-3-like domain of Est1, which promotes and stabilizes telomerase-telomere association.
34. Telomere length and iPSC re-programming: survival of the longest.
35. PCB153 reduces telomerase activity and telomere length in immortalized human skin keratinocytes (HaCaT) but not in human foreskin keratinocytes (NFK).
36. Leukocyte Telomere Length (LTL) is reduced in stable mild cognitive impairment but low LTL is not associated with conversion to Alzheimer's Disease: A pilot study.
37. Telomere and telomerase in stem cells: relevance in ageing and disease.
38. The role of shelterin in maintaining telomere integrity.
39. Short telomere length, myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, and early death.
40. The Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene BRCA2 Is Required for the Maintenance of Telomere Homeostasis.
41. Molecular insights into the heterogeneity of telomere reprogramming in induced pluripotent stem cells.
42. Educational attainment and mean leukocyte telomere length in women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk population study.
43. Telomere length is age-dependent and reduced in monocytes of Alzheimer patients.
44. Telomerase, telomere length, and coronary artery calcium in black and white men in the CARDIA study.
45. mtDNA haplogroup J Modulates telomere length and Nitric Oxide production.
46. Tor complex 1 controls telomere length by affecting the level of Ku.
47. NBS1 deficiency promotes genome instability by affecting DNA damage signaling pathway and impairing telomere integrity.
48. Arabidopsis ATM and ATR Kinases Prevent Propagation of Genome Damage Caused by Telomere Dysfunction.
49. Telomere flip-flop: an unfolding passage to senescence. 
50. A role for sister telomere cohesion in telomere elongation by telomerase.