Shi Yujie, Li Yanyan, Chen Ruxuan, Fang Nan, Wang Mengqi, Li Zhiyi, Chen Qi, Shao Chi, Lin Mingbao, Huang Hui
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, No.1 Shuaifuyuan St, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, China.
Laboratory of Pharmacology, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, 2 Nanwei Rd , Beijing, 100050, China.
BMC Pulm Med. 2025 Aug 1;25(1):368. doi: 10.1186/s12890-025-03865-w.
Telomere and telomerase abnormalities play critical roles in interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). This study aimed to explore the telomere lengths (TL) in cells in the peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of healthy individuals and patient with various types of non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)-ILD and to evaluate the correlation between TL and clinical indicators.
We enrolled 48 patients with ILDs and 21 control individuals who presented at our hospital from September 2023 to September 2024. The relative TL of genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and BALF macrophages were measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Patients with non-IPF-FILD had significantly shorter PBMC TL than controls (p < 0.001) and non-F-ILD patients (p < 0.001). There was a linear correlation between the TL in cells in the BALF and peripheral blood. Compared with control individuals, patients with non-F-ILD also had no significant difference in TL in cells both in the PBMC and BALF. TL was strongly associated with the presence of autoantibodies (η = 0.275, p = 0.012) and the use of immunosuppressants (η = 0.246, p = 0.010).
The PBMC TL of non-IPF-FILD patients were significantly shorter than that of control and non-F-ILD patients. However, there was no significant difference in TL in cells in the BALF and peripheral blood between non-F-ILD patients and control individuals. TL were closely correlated with the presence of autoantibodies and treatment with immunosuppressants.
端粒和端粒酶异常在间质性肺疾病（ILDs）中起关键作用。本研究旨在探讨健康个体以及各种类型非特发性肺纤维化（IPF）-ILD患者外周血和支气管肺泡灌洗液（BALF）中细胞的端粒长度（TL），并评估TL与临床指标之间的相关性。
我们纳入了2023年9月至2024年9月在我院就诊的48例ILD患者和21例对照个体。使用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）测量外周血单个核细胞（PBMCs）和BALF巨噬细胞中基因组脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）的相对TL。
非IPF-FILD患者的PBMC TL显著短于对照组（p < 0.001）和非F-ILD患者（p < 0.001）。BALF和外周血中细胞的TL之间存在线性相关性。与对照个体相比，非F-ILD患者的PBMC和BALF中细胞的TL也无显著差异。TL与自身抗体的存在（η = 0.275，p = 0.012）和免疫抑制剂的使用（η = 0.246，p = 0.010）密切相关。
非IPF-FILD患者的PBMC TL显著短于对照组和非F-ILD患者。然而，非F-ILD患者与对照个体之间BALF和外周血中细胞的TL无显著差异。TL与自身抗体的存在和免疫抑制剂治疗密切相关。
