Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 11 pp 4625—4641
Short telomeres in alveolar type II cells associate with lung fibrosis in post COVID-19 patients with cancer
Figure 4. Higher rate of telomere shortening with age in COVID-19 patients. (A, B) Linear regression analyses between telomere intensity in pro-SPC positive cells and age in lung section from control and COVID-19 patients not presenting lung fibrosis (A) or being histopathologically diagnosed with lung fibrosis (B) post-surgery. The slope of the linear regression is shown. (C) Mean age of control and COVID-19 patients within 62 and 84 year-old interval presenting or not lung fibrosis post-surgery. (D–F) Mean telomeric spot intensity per nucleus (D), percentage of long telomeres above 80th percentile (E) and percentage of short telomeres below 20th percentile (F) in alveolar type II in lung sections from control and COVID-19 patients within 62 and 84 year-old age interval. Statistical significance in (C–F) was assessed using unpaired Student’s t test and the p-value is indicated.