ArticlePloS one2020
From organ to cell: Multi-level telomere length assessment in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Herpes Viruses in Pulmonary Fibrosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Investigation of telomere related gene mutations in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.Molecular biology reports · 2020Trial
- Telomere-associated non-malignant pulmonary diseases: Pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic strategies.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Shortened Telomere Length as a Risk Factor for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Meta-Analysis.The open respiratory medicine journal · 2026Review
- Telomerase modRNA Offers a Novel RNA-Based Approach to Treat Human Pulmonary Fibrosis.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Differentiating clinically important interstitial lung abnormalities in lung cancer screening.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Article
- Article
- Mechanisms and markers of lung ageing in health and disease.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Review
- Germline PARN Variants in Telomere Biology Disorders and Challenges in Variant Curation.Molecular genetics & genomic medicine · 2025Article
- A new variant in theERJ open research · 2024Article
- Casual effects of telomere length on sarcoidosis: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- New Insights via RNA Profiling of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Lung Tissue of Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- No effect of danazol treatment in patients with advanced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.ERJ open research · 2023Article
- Thalidomide interaction with inflammation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.Inflammopharmacology · 2023Review
- Genetic Variant Overlap Analysis Identifies Established and Putative Genes Involved in Pulmonary Fibrosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Telomeres.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Telomere dysfunction implicates POT1 in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2022Article
- Lung Fibroblasts from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients Harbor Short and Unstable Telomeres Leading to Chromosomal Instability.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Telomere shortening and DNA damage in culprit cells of different types of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease.ERJ open research · 2021Article
- Telomeres in Interstitial Lung Disease.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleA subset of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) contains short leukocyte telomeres or telomere related mutations. We previously showed that alveolar type 2 cells have short telomeres in fibrotic lesions. Our objectives were to better understand how telomere shortening associates with fibrosis in IPF lung and identify a subset of patients with telomere-related disease.
methodsAverage telomere length was determined in multiple organs, basal and apical lung, and diagnostic and end-stage fibrotic lung biopsies. Alveolar type 2 cells telomere length was determined in different areas of IPF lungs.
resultsIn IPF but not in controls, telomere length in lung was shorter than in other organs, providing rationale to focus on telomere length in lung. Telomere length did not correlate with age and no difference in telomere length was found between diagnostic and explant lung or between basal and apical lung, irrespective of the presence of a radiological apicobasal gradient or fibrosis. Fifteen out of 28 IPF patients had average lung telomere length in the range of patients with a telomerase (TERT) mutation, and formed the IPFshort group. Only in this IPFshort and TERT group telomeres of alveolar type 2 cells were extremely short in fibrotic areas. Additionally, whole exome sequencing of IPF patients revealed two genetic variations in RTEL1 and one in PARN in the IPFshort group.
conclusionsAverage lung tissue telomere shortening does not associated with fibrotic patterns in IPF, however, approximately half of IPF patients show excessive lung telomere shortening that is associated with pulmonary fibrosis driven by telomere attrition.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.