Measurement of Telomere Length in Lacrimal Gland Tissue Sections Using Quantitative Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (Q-FISH)

Abstract

Purpose: : Decrease of tear function may be related to biological aging. Thus, indicators of aging, such as short telomere length, may be more frequent in aged lacrimal gland. There are few reports on telomere shortening in the lacrimal gland. The aim of this study was to evaluate a technique enabling the assessment of telomere length on lacrimal gland tissue sections, and to analyze whether the average relative telomere length of lacrimal gland cells decreases in dry eye patients.

Methods: : Quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (TELO-Q-FISH) with a peptide nucleic acid probe (PNA) complementary to the telomere repeat sequence was performed on frozen sections from human lacrimal gland tissues. The mean fluorescence intensity of telomere spots (TI) was automatically quantified by image analysis as relative telomere lengths in lacrimal gland epithelial cells.

Results: : Although there was no significant difference in the average relative telomere length between Sjogren and non Sjogren group, telomere of lacrimal gland epithelial cells in Sjogren syndrome (6785.0±455(TI)) tended to be shorter than non Sjogren syndrome group (7519.5±451(TI).

Conclusions: : This study shows that TELO-Q-FISH can be performed on fixed frozen tissue sections to assess telomere length. The telomere length might be shorter in lacrimal gland of Sjogren syndrome.

Keywords: aging • lacrimal gland • immunohistochemistry