Role of telomere length in assessing prognosis of pneumonias severity of different etiology: open prospective non-intervention study

INTRODUCTION: Searching for an early marker in assessing the severity of community-acquired pneumonia is a global issue in modern medicine. As such a biological marker of community-acquired pneumonia severity, the assessment of telomere length peripheral blood lymphocytes on the day of inpatient treatment may be suggested.
OBJECTIVE: Study prognostic value of telomere length in assessing prognosis of pneumonia severity of different etiology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved a group of 97 patients with community-acquired pneumonia of different etiology (viral pneumonia, caused by COVID-19 and bacterial pneumonias). Blood samples were taken on admission and discharge from hospital in accordance with informed voluntary consent. Telomeres were measured in DNA, secreted from peripheral blood lymphocytes, using the manufacturer’s protocol kit (Biolabmix, Novosibirsk).
RESULTS: Depending on the severity, the assessment of telomere length in patients with viral pneumonias showed that in the group 1 at admission the value of this indicator was 6343 (6114; 6422) kilobases, whereas in the second group it was statistically significantly lower - 5264 (5057; 5423) kilobases (p<0.001).
DISCUSSION: The study results showed that all patients with severe viral pneumonia, caused by a new coronavirus infection, after 3 weeks in hospital experienced significant reduction of telomere length not less than 2000 base pairs. Analyzing the data, we managed to confirm the hypothesis of much more severe viral pneumonia in patients with low telomere lengths. CONCLUSION: It was found that telomere length changes significantly in the dynamics of bacterial and viral pneumonia and can be considered as a marker of severity and prognosis of the disease course in the early stages of diagnosis.

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