Fig. 2

Telomere length decreases over time in CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. a RTL of peripheral CD4 T cells (left panel) and CD8 T cells (right panel) over time of: healthy donors (HD); multiple exposed uninfected (MEU) injecting drug users (IDU); HCV monoinfected IDU and HIV/HCV coinfected DU. RTL was measured in the first available sample since study entry (t = 1) and the most recent sample (t = 2) of MEU, HCV monoinfected and HIV/HCV coinfected DU. HD at time point 1 and 2 are not the same individuals. The median time interval for all groups between time point 1 and 2 was 16.9 years. Medians are depicted in the scatterplots. Wilcoxon-signed rank test was used for comparison within groups with the same individuals (MEU, HCV and HIV/HCV). Kruskall-Wallis test were used to compare between groups followed by post hoc Mann-Withney U tests. b Median levels of RTL decrease over time calculated per individual per 10 years for CD4 T cells (left panel) and CD8 T cells (right panel)