STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TELOMERE LENGTH ON THE CLINICAL PICTURE OF PNEUMONIA OF VARIOUS ETIOLOGIES

Abstract

The results of the study of the features of the clinical course of pneumonia of various etiologies, considering the epigenetic index of the human body, such as telomere length, are presented. Telomeres are specialized functional complexes that are located at the ends of chromosomes and protect them from merging with each other, which preserves the integrity of the eukaryotic cell genome. Telomere length is an important characteristic of a person's overall health. It is associated with such characteristics as longevity and susceptibility of the human body to various diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease. The study estimated the length of telomeres in patients with pneumonia of various etiologies. 121 young men who were treated at the hospital therapy clinic of the Military Medical Academy named after S. M. Kirov were examined. Patients were divided into three groups according to telomere length at admission: I group of 32 people aged 27.4±5.21 years with telomere length of more than 8000 nucleotide pairs; Group II – 52 people aged 27.9±5.83 years with a telomere length of 6000 to 8000 pairs of nucleotides; group III – 37 people aged 26.7± 5.75 years with a telomere length of less than 6000 nucleotides. Patients were examined and treated according to the standard scheme. During a clinical study in patients with pneumonia of various etiologies, the features of the initial state were studied and the indicators of the main clinical, functional and laboratory parameters were studied, as well as the length of telomeres was estimated. It was found that patients with various epigenetic parameters are characterized by the features of clinical symptoms and physical indicators of community-acquired pneumonia, characterized by more pronounced initial signs of clinical course and intoxication, a longer period of asthenization in patients with telomere length less than 6,000 nucleotide pairs. Community-acquired pneumonia in patients with telomere lengths of more than 8000 nucleotide pairs is characterized by a mild course and the absence of prolonged and complicated forms of the disease. The results of the clinical study can be used as a prediction of a severe course, as well as a complicated and prolonged course of viral lung damage caused by a new coronavirus infection. The obtained data give a promising idea to consider the telomere length of peripheral blood lymphocytes as a specific biological predictor of assessing the severity, prolonged and complicated course of pneumonia caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.