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  • Evidence for Biological Age...
    Mongelli, Alessia; Barbi, Veronica; Gottardi Zamperla, Michela; Atlante, Sandra; Forleo, Luana; Nesta, Marialisa; Massetti, Massimo; Pontecorvi, Alfredo; Nanni, Simona; Farsetti, Antonella; Catalano, Oronzo; Bussotti, Maurizio; Dalla Vecchia, Laura Adelaide; Bachetti, Tiziana; Martelli, Fabio; La Rovere, Maria Teresa; Gaetano, Carlo

    International journal of molecular sciences, 06/2021, Letnik: 22, Številka: 11
    Journal Article

    The SARS-CoV-2 infection determines the COVID-19 syndrome characterized, in the worst cases, by severe respiratory distress, pulmonary and cardiac fibrosis, inflammatory cytokine release, and immunosuppression. This condition has led to the death of about 2.15% of the total infected world population so far. Among survivors, the presence of the so-called persistent post-COVID-19 syndrome (PPCS) is a common finding. In COVID-19 survivors, PPCS presents one or more symptoms: fatigue, dyspnea, memory loss, sleep disorders, and difficulty concentrating. In this study, a cohort of 117 COVID-19 survivors (post-COVID-19) and 144 non-infected volunteers (COVID-19-free) was analyzed using pyrosequencing of defined CpG islands previously identified as suitable for biological age determination. The results show a consistent biological age increase in the post-COVID-19 population, determining a DeltaAge acceleration of 10.45 ± 7.29 years (+5.25 years above the range of normality) compared with 3.68 ± 8.17 years for the COVID-19-free population (p < 0.0001). A significant telomere shortening parallels this finding in the post-COVID-19 cohort compared with COVID-19-free subjects (p < 0.0001). Additionally, ACE2 expression was decreased in post-COVID-19 patients, compared with the COVID-19-free population, while DPP-4 did not change. In light of these observations, we hypothesize that some epigenetic alterations are associated with the post-COVID-19 condition, particularly in younger patients (< 60 years).