A pilot study on the immune cell proteome of long COVID patients shows changes to physiological pathways similar to those in myalgic encephalomyelitis

[SWAlexander]

Abstract​

Of those infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ~ 10% develop the chronic post-viral debilitating condition, long COVID (LC). Although LC is a heterogeneous condition, about half of cases have typical post-viral fatigue with onset and symptoms that are very similar to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). A key question is whether these conditions are closely related. ME/CFS is a post-stressor fatigue condition that arises from multiple triggers. To investigate the pathophysiology of LC, a pilot study of patients (n = 6) and healthy controls (n = 5) has used quantitative proteomics to discover changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proteins. A principal component analysis separated all long COVID patients from healthy controls. Analysis of 3131 proteins identified 162 proteins differentially regulated, of which 37 were related to immune functions, and 21 to mitochondrial functions. Markov cluster analysis identified clusters involved in immune system processes, and two aspects of gene expression-spliceosome and transcription. These results were compared with an earlier dataset of 346 differentially regulated proteins in PBMC’s from ME/CFS patients (n = 9) analysed by the same methodology. There were overlapping protein clusters and enriched molecular pathways particularly in immune functions, suggesting the two conditions have similar immune pathophysiology as a prominent feature, and mitochondrial functions involved in energy production were affected in both conditions.
continue: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-49402-9

 

[SWAlexander]

Strong links found between Long COVID and ME/CFS: Study​

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Excerpt:
The study reinforces the researchers’ previously published model in Frontiers of Neurology to explain the complex dysfunctional physiology for both ME/CFS and Long COVID: In susceptible people (determined by their health history and genetic background), the normal transitory immune/inflammatory response of the peripheral nervous system to infection or stress does not resolve quickly as in most people.

Instead, it becomes chronic and leads to a cascade effect involving the brain, immune system and central nervous system, which in turn results in multiple neurological symptoms and poor brain regulation of body physiology.

Emeritus Professor Tate says Long COVID from the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is a specific example of ME/CFS, that has occurred in susceptible people from endemic viruses like glandular fever, and from small historical viral outbreaks geographically contained like the SARS-CoV-1 virus outbreak in 2003.

Keep reading:

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsro...enews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news​

On a personal note: Will doctors around the world react to the publication in consensus and treat patients concisely?