Trending with Impact: Shorter Telomeres in Patients With Severe COVID-19

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Aging (Aging-US)

Aging-US published this trending research paper on January 11, 2021, entitled, “Shorter telomere lengths in patients with severe COVID-19 disease” by researchers from the Telomeres and Telomerase Group, Molecular Oncology Program, Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO), Melchor Fernández Almagro 3, Madrid, Spain, and Field Hospital COVID-19, IFEMA, Madrid, Spain. 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. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.202463 DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202463 Full text - https://www.aging-us.com/article/202463/text Correspondence to: Maria A. Blasco email: mblasco@cnio.es Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, telomeres, aging About Aging-US Launched in 2009, Aging-US publishes papers of general interest and biological significance in all fields of aging research and age-related diseases, including cancer—and now, with a special focus on COVID-19 vulnerability as an age-dependent syndrome. Topics in Aging-US go beyond traditional gerontology, including, but not limited to, cellular and molecular biology, human age-related diseases, pathology in model organisms, signal transduction pathways (e.g., p53, sirtuins, and PI-3K/AKT/mTOR, among others), and approaches to modulating these signaling pathways. Please visit our website at http://www.Aging-US.com​​ or connect with us on: Twitter - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/aging-us​ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/agingus​ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging​ Aging-US is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit http://www.ImpactJournals.com​​ or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact 18009220957 MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM