Highlighting the Correlation Between Telomere Shortening and the Susceptibility to the Novel SARS-CoV-2 Virus (COVID-19)

COVID-19 is a global crisis that requires a deep understanding of infection pathways to facilitate the development of effective treatments and vaccines. Telomere, which is regarded as a biomarker for other respiratory viral infections, might influence the demographic distribution of COVID-19 infection and fatality rates. Viral infection can induce many cellular remodeling events and stress responses, including telomere specific alterations, just as telomere shortening. In brief, this letter aims to highlight the connection between telomere shortening and susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, in addition to changes in telomeric length according to the variation of age and gender of confirmed cases with COVID-19 infection. To sum up, the correlation is revealed from the available data that connect telomere length and COVID-19 infection, demonstrated in the fact that the elderly patients and males are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to shortening in their telomere length.