{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T09:11:56Z","timestamp":1782983516731,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]],"date-time":"2021-02-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612396800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004281","name":"Narodowe Centrum Nauki","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2017\/25\/N\/NZ5\/02126"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017\/25\/N\/NZ5\/02126"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004281","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We hypothezied that telomere length is considerably altered in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients compared to healthy subjects (HS), and that leukocyte telomere length variation reflects the severity of CF. Relative telomere length (RTL) was assessed by qPCR in 70 children aged 5\u201310 (34 CF; 36 HS) and 114 adults aged 18\u201345 (53 CF; 61 HS). Telomere length was similar in CF and HS (median (interquartile range): 0.799 (0.686\u20130.950) vs. 0.831 (0.707\u20130.986); p = 0.5283) both in children and adults. In adults, women had longer telomeres than men (0.805 (0.715\u20130.931) vs. 0.703 (0.574\u20130.790); p = 0.0002). Patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids had a shorter RTL compared to those without steroid therapy (0.765 (0.664\u20130.910) vs. 0.943 (0.813\u20131.191); p = 0.0007) and this finding remained significant after adjusting for gender, age, BMI, and child\/adult status (p = 0.0003). Shorter telomeres were independently associated with the presence of comorbidities (0.763 (0.643\u20130.905) vs. 0.950 (0.783\u20131.130); p = 0.0006) and antibiotic treatment at the moment of blood sampling (0.762 (0.648\u20130.908) vs. 0.832 (0.748\u20131.129); p = 0.0172). RTL correlated with number of multiple-day hospitalizations (rho = \u22120.251; p = 0.0239), as well as number of hospitalization days (rho = \u22120.279; p = 0.0113). Leukocyte RTL in children and adults with CF was not shorter than in healthy controls, and did not seem to have any potential as a predictor of CF survival. However, it inversely associated with the investigated clinical characteristics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm10040590","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]],"date-time":"2021-02-04T12:02:10Z","timestamp":1612440130000},"page":"590","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Leukocyte Telomere Length Is Not Reduced in Children and Adults with Cystic Fibrosis but Associates with Clinical Characteristics\u2014A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3017-0524","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Glapa-Nowak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8285-551X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shivaprakash Jagalur","family":"Mutt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit of Biomedicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland"},{"name":"Medical Research Center, University of Oulu, Oulu University Hospital, 90220 Oulu, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Lisowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ewa","family":"Sapiejka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Specialist Centre for Medical Care of Mother and Child, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4518-7070","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joanna","family":"Go\u017adzik-Spychalska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pulmonology, Allergology and Respiratory Oncology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-569 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miros\u0142awa","family":"Wieczorek-Filipiak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S\u0142awomira","family":"Drzyma\u0142a-Czy\u017c","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-354 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jan Krzysztof","family":"Nowak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olaf","family":"Thalmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4460-2604","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karl-Heinz","family":"Herzig","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"},{"name":"Research Unit of Biomedicine, University of Oulu, 90220 Oulu, Finland"},{"name":"Medical Research Center, University of Oulu, Oulu University Hospital, 90220 Oulu, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5813-5707","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaros\u0142aw","family":"Walkowiak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Pozna\u0144 University of Medical Sciences, 60-572 Pozna\u0144, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1016\/0092-8674(82)90109-X","article-title":"Cloning Yeast Telomeres on Linear Plasmid Vectors","volume":"29","author":"Szostak","year":"1982","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1016\/j.yexcr.2012.09.005","article-title":"Telomeres-Structure, Function, and Regulation","volume":"319","author":"Lu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Exp. 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