Analysis of the relative average long telomere of women’s leukocytes, who were sick with COVID-19

Krasnienkov D.S., Gorodna O.V., Kaminska T.M., Podolskiy V.V., Podolskiy Vl.V., Nechyporenko М.V., Antypkin Yu.G., Livshits L.A.

SUMMARY. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an acute infectious disease of the respiratory tract, the causative agent of which is the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.The global vaccination program against SARS-CoV-2 is still on-going, and the incidence of COVID-19 worldwide is significantly decreasing. However, among the millions of survivors of COVID-19, large groups will require assistance due to increased clinical consequences fol-lowing COVID-19. Currently, there is a need to find molecular biomarkers to monitor the occurrence and progression of the post-covid syndrome. For this pur-pose, we were measuring the relative average length of telomeres in groups of women of reproductive age: in a group of patients (n = 64) who contracted COVID-19 and in a control group (n = 42) of women of the same age. The analysis was performed by monochrome quantitative PCR in real time on DNA samples isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes. According to the study’s results, it was established that the relative average length of telomeres in peripheral blood leukocytes in the group of patients with COVID-19 was lower than in the control group (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that the observed shortening of the relative average length of telomeres in a group of patients infected with COVID-19 may be evidence in favor of the fact that SARS-CoV-2 infection, may directly cause erosion of telomeres  in blood cells, in particular, in leukocytes. Accordingly, the determination of the relative average length of telomeres can be an informative prognostic marker for assessing the risk of the severity of the course of the disease in COVID-19 and the development of the post-covid syndrome.

Key words: COVID-19, biomarker, relative average telomere length, women of reproductive age

Tsitologiya i Genetika 2022, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 57-62

1. State Institution «Institute of Gerontology named after Dmitry F. Chebotarev, National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine»
2. Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
3. Kyiv City Children’s Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases
4. State Institution «Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology named after Academician O.M. Lukyanova, National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine»

E-mail: livshits edu.imbg.org.ua

Krasnienkov D.S., Gorodna O.V., Kaminska T.M., Podolskiy V.V., Podolskiy Vl.V., Nechyporenko М.V., Antypkin Yu.G., Livshits L.A. Analysis of the relative average long telomere of women’s leukocytes, who were sick with COVID-19, Tsitol Genet., 2022, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 57-62.

In "Cytology and Genetics":
D. S. Krasnienkov, O. V. Gorodna, T. M. Kaminska, V. V. Podolskiy, Vl. V. Podolskiy, M. V. Nechyporenko, Yu. G. Antypkin & L. A. Livshits Analysis of Relative Average Length of Telomeres in Leukocytes of Women with COVID-19, Cytol Genet., 2022, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 526–529
DOI: 10.3103/S0095452722060056

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