Telomere length dynamics in a single patient who received a transplant of culture-purged marrow.

Telomere length measurements in thawed low-density cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood (squares) and from ex vivo expanded T cells (circles) are shown. The average rate of telomere shortening after transplantation was calculated by linear regression analysis and the slopes expressed in base pairs per year. Note that the patient showed an increase in telomere length after transplantation followed by a decline thereafter and that T lymphocytes always showed longer telomeres and seemed to decline at a slightly slower rate than the PBL in the 10 years after transplantation.