Hi everyone,
Extremely research-heavy week. Hopefully, the positive news keeps coming in. It seems like there are a lot more eyes on Long Covid. Without further ado let’s jump in.
Research
Distinguishing features of Long COVID identified through immune profiling
The biggest piece of research to drop this week, by far. Lengthy read but highly recommended.
TL;DR: Akiko(one of the authors) does a really good job summarizing this here:
Global patterns of antigen receptor repertoire disruption across adaptive immune compartments in COVID-19
TL;DR: “significant narrowing of … T cell diversity was unexpectedly observed only in those aged over 50, which is a major inflexion point for COVID-19–associated mortality.“ “By temporarily reducing T cell diversity and by risking expansions of nonbeneficial T cells, these traits may constitute an age-related risk factor for COVID-19, including a vulnerability to new variants for which T cells may provide key protection.”
This is a pretty concerning piece, would definitely like a further look to see how covid affects t-cells.
Morphological, cellular, and molecular basis of brain infection in COVID-19 patients
Important Definition: Astrocytes “A large, star-shaped cell that holds nerve cells in place and helps them develop and work the way they should. An astrocyte is a type of glial cell.” (source)
TL;DR: “In an independent cohort of 26 individuals who died of COVID-19, we used histopathological signs of brain damage as a guide for possible SARS-CoV-2 brain infection and found that among the 5 individuals who exhibited those signs, all of them had genetic material of the virus in the brain.” “Our data support the model in which SARS-CoV-2 reaches the brain, infects astrocytes, and consequently, leads to neuronal death or dysfunction.“
TL;DR: Interesting theory that the drainage system could be dysfunctional in long covid & me/cfs.
Persistent capillary rarefication in long COVID syndrome
TL;DR: People with covid “showed a significant decrease of vascular density, that exclusively affected very small capillaries.” “Showed that the number of capillaries perfused in long COVID patients was comparable to that of critically ill COVID-19 patients and did not respond adequately to local variations of tissue metabolic demand”
Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) impact quality of life at 6, 12 and 18 months post-infection
TL:DR: “non-severe acute COVID-19 continue to report a wide range of symptoms at 6, 12, and 18 months post-infection, and that having multiple symptoms is associated with lower quality of life over a year after infection.” “Almost one-quarter of participants reported not having returned to their usual pre-COVID health by 18 months, while some reported returning to work and other activities before feeling entirely recovered from COVID-19.”
Hope
Panacell Biotech to treat long COVID using stem cells
TL;DR: “South Korean bio company Panacell Biotech said Wednesday it will start clinical trials to test the toxicity of natural killer cells, exosomes, and brown adiposed-derived stem cells when used to treat long COVID.“
List of research topics being funded by reCOVer
Some interesting topics are being funded! Exciting to see what comes out of it.
Media
It’s Not Just Long COVID
TL;DR:”We’ve always lived with post-infection illnesses and underappreciated their consequences. A recent article in Nature Medicine lists 15 infectious agents—many of which are well-known viruses, bacteria, and parasites—that can cause these “post-acute infection syndromes.”