| Objective:Frank sign,also known as earlobe crease sign,is a feature easily observed on the body surface.Many studies at home and abroad have shown that Frank’s sign is related to coronary heart disease(CAD),but the underlying mechanism is unclear.Telomeres are short nucleotide sequences at the end of chromosomes,which gradually shorten throughout the human life cycle and are considered as biomarkers of human aging.In this study,telomere length was measured in patients with positive Frank sign to explore the correlation between telomere length and Frank sign and coronary heart disease.Methods:(1)Objectives:Forty Han patients aged between 50 and 60 years in the Department of Cardiology of Shaanxi People’s Hospital were selected and diagnosed by coronary angiography or excluded from coronary heart disease during hospitalization.There were 30 males and 10 females.The complications such as hypertension,diabetes mellitus,acute and chronic infections were excluded.(2)Study grouping:According to the presence of coronary heart disease(CAD),patients were divided into two groups:CAD group(20 cases),non-CAD group(20 cases);according to whether there were earlobe creases(Frank sign),patients were divided into two groups:Frank sign positive group(20 cases),Frank sign negative group(20cases),according to whether there were coronary heart disease(CAD)combined with Frank sign,patients were divided into four groups:CAD+Frank sign positive group(12cases),CAD+Frank sign negative group(8 cases),There were 12 cases of non-CAD+Frank sign negative and 8 cases of non-CAD+Frank sign positive.(3)Data collection:The basic clinical data of all subjects were collected,including name,age,sex,past medical history,etc.The whole blood genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood and purity was determined.Leukocyte telomere length was evaluated by qPCR.(4)Statistical methods:SPSS 19.0 statistical software package was used for data analysis.PearsonX~2 chi-square test was used to evaluate the differences of classification variables.The differences between continuous variables were assessed by Student’s t test(e.g.age)or Wilcox rank sum test(e.g.telomere length).P<0.05 showed statistical significance.Results:There was no significant difference in telomere length between CAD group(2.66+0.52)and non-CAD group(4.52+0.83),P>0.05;telomere length between Frank sign positive group(2.58+0.48)and Frank sign negative group(4.61+0.85)had significant difference(P<0.05);telomere length between Frank sign positive+CAD group(2.19+1.83)and Frank sign negative+non-CAD group(5.44+4.19).There were significant differences in telomere length between Frank sign positive+non-CAD group(3.16+2.63)and Frank sign negative+non-CAD group(5.44+4.19),P<0.05;Frank sign negative+CAD group(3.35+2.97)and Frank sign negative+non-CAD group(5.44+4.19),P<0.05;Frank sign positive+CAD group(2.44+4.19)had significant differences in telomere length(p<0.05).There was no significant difference in telomere length between Frank sign positive+non-CAD group(3.16+2.63),Frank sign positive+non-CAD group(3.16+2.63)and Frank sign negative+non-CAD group(5.44+4.19),P>0.05.There was no significant difference in telomere length between Frank sign positive+non-CAD group(3.16+2.63)and Frank sign negative+CAD group(3.35+2.97),P>0.05.Conclusion:Telomere length is significantly shortened in Frank patients with coronary heart disease,suggesting that the aging caused by telomere length shortening may be related to the formation of Frank sign in patients with coronary heart disease. |
