Shorter Telomere Lengths in Patients with Severe COVID-19 Disease

Overview

Journal Aging (Albany NY)

Specialty Geriatrics

Date 2021 Jan 11

PMID 33428591

Citations 58

Authors

Raul Sanchez-Vazquez

Ana Guio-Carrion

Antonio Zapatero-Gaviria

Paula Martinez

Maria A Blasco

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The incidence of severe manifestations of COVID-19 increases with age with older patients showing the highest mortality, suggesting that molecular pathways underlying aging contribute to the severity of COVID-19. One mechanism of aging is the progressive shortening of telomeres, which are protective structures at chromosome ends. Critically short telomeres impair the regenerative capacity of tissues and trigger loss of tissue homeostasis and disease. The SARS-CoV-2 virus infects many different cell types, forcing cell turn-over and regeneration to maintain tissue homeostasis. We hypothesize that presence of short telomeres in older patients limits the tissue response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We measure telomere length in peripheral blood lymphocytes COVID-19 patients with ages between 29 and 85 years-old. We find that shorter telomeres are associated to increased severity of the disease. Individuals within the lower percentiles of telomere length and higher percentiles of short telomeres have higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 pathologies.

Citing Articles

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Exploring the Relationship between Telomere Length and Cognitive Changes in Post-COVID-19 Subjects.

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Telomere length in subjects with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Epigenetic patterns, accelerated biological aging, and enhanced epigenetic drift detected 6 months following COVID-19 infection: insights from a genome-wide DNA methylation study.

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