Can predict the possibility of colds

Scientists in the United States found signs in the immune system showing the possibility of a person being susceptible to colds.

The research team from Carnegie Mellon University, Philadelphia (USA) studied telomere length in white blood cells of 152 healthy people aged 18 to 55 years.

Telomeres protect the information of chromosomes

Telomeres are the end of chromosomes, which play a role in protecting chromosomes from loss of information when cells in the body divide. As people get older, the telomeres become shorter, making people more susceptible to illness.

The team found that telomere's length at age 22 can help predict a person's ability to catch respiratory infections.

They exposed rhinovirus to telomeres. These are common cold viruses. They then observed for 5 days to consider the possibility of infection.

The results showed that the shorter the subjects with telomeres, the more susceptible to the cold virus.

'Research shows that it is possible to predict human susceptibility based on telomeres' length since they were young,' the Daily Mail quoted Professor Sheldon Cohen, who led the study.

The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.