Large-scale phenotyping of patients with long COVID post-hospitalization reveals mechanistic subtypes of disease

Abstract

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers of alterations in nerve tissue repair (SPON-1 and NFASC) were elevated in those with cognitive impairment and SCG3, suggestive of brain–gut axis disturbance, was elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was persistently elevated in some individuals with long COVID, but virus was not detected in sputum. Analysis of inflammatory markers in nasal fluids showed no association with symptoms. Our study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie long COVID and was not designed for biomarker discovery. Our findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of long COVID, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials.

An HERV-WENVtranscription in atypical memory B cells linked to COVID-19 evolution and risk for long COVID can express the encoded protein from a ribosome readthrough of mRNA from chromosome X

“…This post-infectious syndrome has been referred to as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), post-COVID syndrome/condition or, more commonly now, long COVID (LC) 5 . The appearance of so many cases within a short delay after COVID-19, the frequency, and the important number of symptoms revealed the involvement of a viral infection in the appearance of a post-infectious syndrome much different from that the fatigue of a convalescence phase 6,7 .…”