The Nexus Between Telomere Length and Lymphocyte Count in Seniors Hospitalized With COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Profound T-cell lymphopenia is the hallmark of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). T-cell proliferation is telomere length (TL) dependent and telomeres shorten with age. Older COVID-19 patients, we hypothesize, are, therefore, at a higher risk of having TL-dependent lymphopenia. We measured TL by the novel Telomere Shortest Length Assay (TeSLA), and by Southern blotting (SB) of the terminal restriction fragments in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 17 COVID-19 and 21 non-COVID-19 patients, aged 87 ± 8 (mean ± SD) and 87 ± 9 years, respectively. TeSLA tallies and measures single telomeres, including short telomeres undetected by SB. Such telomeres are relevant to TL-mediated biological processes, including cell viability and senescence. TeSLA yields 2 key metrics: the proportion

SUBMITTER: Benetos A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7929343 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature