{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T17:45:26Z","timestamp":1782841526746,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Aging"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The longitudinal interplay between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and persistent immune activation after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection remains incompletely characterized.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this exploratory observational study, 51 adults (76.5% female; mean age 39.0 \u00b1 9.7 years) with RT-PCR-confirmed mild COVID-19 had blood sampled in the acute symptomatic phase and at 12 months. Relative LTL was quantified by qPCR (Cawthon T\/S method, 36B4 reference). A 45-analyte multiplex bead-based immunoassay quantified circulating cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. Paired changes were assessed with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests; cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between immune mediators and LTL were evaluated by Spearman correlation with Benjamini\u2013Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) control and by multivariable linear regression adjusted for baseline LTL, age, sex and comorbidity burden.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Forty-eight participants had paired LTL data. Group-level T\/S ratio increased modestly between the acute phase and 12 months (mean \u0394 = +0.0094; Wilcoxon p = 0.041; Cohen\u2019s d_z = 0.31), but interindividual trajectories were markedly heterogeneous (52% increased, 33% decreased, 15% unchanged). Twenty of 45 cytokines decreased significantly between timepoints (FDR &amp;lt;0.05), consistent with systemic resolution of acute inflammation. Among residual immune mediators at 12 months, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was inversely associated with the LTL trajectory (Spearman \u03c1 = \u22120.48; p = 0.0005; FDR = 0.024). This association persisted in a multivariable model adjusted for baseline LTL, age, sex and comorbidity count (\u03b2 = \u22120.040; 95% CI \u22120.061 to \u22120.018; p = 0.0006), and the model explained 43% of variance in T\/S\n                      <jats:sub>1<\/jats:sub>\n                      . Cytokines previously highlighted in similar cohorts (IL-7, IL-9, IL-17A, EGF) showed univariable correlations that did not survive FDR correction.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Twelve months after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection, leukocyte telomere trajectories are highly individual, while most acute-phase inflammatory mediators have resolved. Residual circulating HGF, a pleiotropic factor recognized as a component of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype but also involved in tissue repair, endothelial activation, and metabolic signaling, was the only mediator robustly associated with the longitudinal LTL trajectory after multiple-testing correction and may identify a subgroup with persistent tissue-remodeling or senescence-associated activity. This association is interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating rather than as a validated biomarker. Given the absence of an uninfected control group, modest sample size, and qPCR-based LTL quantification, these findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fragi.2026.1866981","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T16:58:48Z","timestamp":1782838728000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Heterogeneous leukocyte telomere trajectories and inflammatory resolution 12 months after mild COVID-19: an exploratory cohort study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Daiane Renata","family":"dos Santos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela Valad\u00e3o Freitas","family":"Rosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arnaldo Santos","family":"Leite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carolina Coimbra","family":"Marinho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Aparecida Camargos","family":"Bicalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marco Aurelio","family":"Romano-Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"D\u00e9bora Marques","family":"de Miranda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandre Guimar\u00e3es de Almeida","family":"Barros","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais","place":["Belo Horizonte, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e200023","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2020.0023","article-title":"Association of leukocyte telomere length with mortality among adult participants in 3 longitudinal studies","volume":"3","author":"Arbeev","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA Netw. 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