Evaluation of smoking effect on telomere length of the chromosomes of alzheimer’s patients

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common and severe neurodegenerative disorder. Human chromosomes telomeres are essential for the maintenance of genomic stability and play prominent roles in both cellular senescence and ageing of the organisms. Regulation of telomere length (TL) is a result of complex interaction between environmental and genetic factors. Aim: measuring the length of telomere length in AD patients by Quantitative Florescence in Situ Hybridization (Q-FISH) methodology and studying of smoking as an environmental risk factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Subjects and Methods: This study included 10 AD patients and 10 controls. All blood samples were collected measured by using Q-FISH to assess the telomere length. Results: It was found a significant difference in TL between AD patients and the controls, with a standardized mean difference resulted p = 0.03 were considered statistically significant which is still significant p < 0.05. Smokers had shorter telomeres length in AD patients than non-smokers. Conclusion: A significant correlation was found between AD and telomere length shortening. The environmental influence of smoking had an additional effect on telomere shortening in AD. Journal of Environmental Sciences (JES) Institute of Environmental Studies and Research, Ain Shams University