It has been discovered that the length of a biological marker is linked to respiratory infection in generally healthy adults. The biological marker is the length of the telomere, which is a structure at the end of a chromosome.
It was found that individuals were more likely to develop a respiratory infection who were administered a cold virus and had shorter telomere lengths than those who had longer telomere lengths. The findings come from a study that was published in JAMA and carried out by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University.
Telomeres become shorter with every cell division, they then function as protective caps to stop erosion of DNA. The team originally set out to examine young to middle-aged adults to find out whether short telomeres in leukocytes are linked to a reduced resistance to upper respiratory infection.
The team looked at the length of telomeres between 2008 and 2011 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. A total of 152 healthy people between 18 and 55 years of age were involved in the research.
The subjects were each given their own room to stay in and were given nasal drops that consisted of a common cold virus. They were then observed for five days so that the team could examine the development of the infection and illness.
Respiratory infections were found in 69 percent of the participants and 22 percent developed a clinical illness. The scientists found that those participants who had shorter telomere lengths were more likely to develop the infection and subsequent illness than participants who had longer telomeres.
This could now allow doctors to be able to identify patients who are more likely to develop infections in the future. This could be an important breakthrough for science and help improve treatment.
