Tissue-Specific Ultra-Short Telomeres in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Figures & data

Figure 1 Representative USTELA. 1: Marker, 2–4: hMSC internal control at different passages (p X, X, X), 5–7: Leukocyte samples, 8–10: BAL samples. Red arrows indicate the presence of ultra-short telomeres that are below the threshold of 1.5kb shown as red horizontal line.

Table 1 Categorical Analysis of COPD Patients

	COPD Patients (n=32) Mean ± SD
Age (years)	60.0 ± 10.5
	n (%)
Smoking History  Smoker  Former Smoker  Non Smoker	13 (40.1) 9 (28.1) 10(31.3)
Gender  Male  Female	26 (81.3) 6 (18.7)
Presence of ultra-short telomeres in leukocytes	3 (9.3)
Presence of ultra-short telomeres in BAL	26 (81.3)
COPD Grade  Grade 1–2  Grade 3–4	15 (46.9) 17 (53,1)

Note: Ultra-short telomeres were present in 26 BAL samples and in contrast to 3 leukocyte samples.

Table 2 The Relationship Between the Presence of Ultra-Short Telomeres and Age, Smoking History, and COPD Grading

	BAL + (n=26)	BAL – (n=6)	p	Leu + (n=3)	Leu – (n=29)	p
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD		Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Age (years)	62.6 7.8	48.8 14.2	0.014*	71.7 1.2	58.8 10.3	NaN
	n (%)	n (%)		n (%)	n (%)
Smoking History  Ever Smoker  Never Smoker	18 (81.2) 8 (80)	4(11.8) 2 (20)	1.00**	3 (13.6) 0 (0.0)	19 (86.4) 10 (100.0)	0.534**
COPD Grade  Grade 1–2  Grade 3–4	9 (60.0) 17 (100.0)	6 (40.0) 0 (0.0)	0.006 **	1 (6.7) 2 (11.8)	14 (93.3) 15 (88.2)	1.00**

Notes: *Results were obtained with the Mann–Whitney U-test; **Results were obtained with Fisher Exact test; NaN, No statistics were calculated due to inadequate sample size in one Leu (+) group (n=3); Bold indicates statistically significant values.

Abbreviations: BAL+, presence of ultra-short telomeres in BAL samples; BAL-, absence of ultra-short telomeres in Bal samples; Leu+, presence of ultra-short telomeres in leukocyte samples; Leu-, absence of ultra-short telomeres in leukocyte samples.