Telome Health (Menlo Park, Calif.) plans to launch a saliva-based test of telomere length, protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, to help assess health status, disease and mortality risk, and response to specific therapies. Data presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting (San Francisco; Nov. 6-10) demonstrates the prognostic utility of the test.“Telomeres are one of the few parts of the genome that can be changed by lifestyle choices, and hence telomere length measurements can provide valuable feedback on one’s disease risks and, potentially, the effects of lifestyle changes,” said Telome Health co-founder Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., who received the Nobel Prize for her telomere discoveries. “The data from the saliva-based testing in the large Kaiser-UCSF research study is an exciting step forward in the field of telomere science, as it helps to advance the use of telomere testing into regular clinical practice.” Telome Health acquired the worldwide rights to the quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based telomere test from the University of Utah in 2010. This new study also confirmed that clinical associations with telomere length remain preserved when using saliva specimens rather than blood. The TeloTest diagnostic test measures the average telomere length, which is known […]