Telomere length of memory T cells is shorter in male homosexual HIV-1 infection
Telomeres are specialized structures comprised of tandem repeats of TTAGGG located at the end of chromosomes and are essential for chromosomal stability. An assessment of telomere length is used to evaluate cellular replication history or senescent status. Moreover, immune activation and microbial translocation are thought to drive telomere shortening in HIV infection [21]. To investigate the impact of chronic HIV infection and ART on the telomere length of distinct T cell subsets, we further determined the telomere length of both naive and memory T cells isolated from HIV patients. For naive T cells, there was no significant alteration in telomere length between healthy controls and HIV-infected patients, nor between the ART-naive patients and ART-receiving patients. For memory T cells, however, ART-naive patients had a significantly decreased telomere length compared to that of healthy controls and ART-receiving patients, at 2.96 ± 2.40, 7.82 ± 3.58, and 6.27 ± 3.23, respectively (p < 0.0001 andp = 0.0058). However, the differences in telomere length between the healthy controls and ART-receiving patients were not statistically significant.