Swiss researchers found a specific protein pattern in the blood serum of people affected by Long Covid. This could improve diagnosis and treatment.
A Swiss research team has identified a pattern in the blood proteins of people affected by Long Covid. In the future, this could be used to better diagnose Long Covid and, if necessary, treat it more specifically. Researchers from the University and University Hospital Zurich examined more than 6,500 proteins in the blood serum of 113 corona-infected people and 39 healthy people, according to the study published Thursday in the journal “Science”.
In those infected, 40 of whom developed Long Covid, the blood pattern was examined again after six and twelve months. They found a certain pattern of proteins in the blood serum of people affected by Long Covid that are related to a dysregulation of the so-called complement system. The complement system is part of the innate immune system and normally helps fight infections and remove damaged and infected cells from the body. “In patients with Long Covid, the complement system does not return to its resting state as it should,” explained study leader Onur Boyman, director of the Immunology Clinic at the University Hospital Zurich.
Furthermore, Long Covid patients showed increased blood levels of damage to various cells in the body, including red blood cells, platelets and blood vessels. “If the complement system remains activated, it attacks healthy cells in various organs and damages or destroys them,” says the immunologist. “With this discovery, we have found another piece of the puzzle about Long Covid, which also explains why this disease can lead to such a wide range of symptoms,” said Boyman.
According to the immunologist, the new discoveries may not only contribute to a better understanding of the disease. The researchers were able to detect active Long Covid based on the protein pattern in the blood. According to Boyman, this could be used to diagnose Long Covid.
However, the researchers used a complex procedure to discover the blood markers, which, according to Boyman, cannot be used in day-to-day hospital life. According to the immunologist, such a test would be extremely useful, for example, to distinguish Long Covid from other diseases that present similar symptoms.
Furthermore, according to the study leader, a treatment for Long Covid could only be developed based on discoveries about the role of the complement system. “There are already companies developing complement inhibitors,” Boyman emphasized. These inhibit the activity of certain components of the complement system. They are used to treat certain autoimmune diseases.
However, some researchers not involved in the study caution against jumping to conclusions. It is still too early to derive direct therapeutic concepts from the new discoveries or even to enter directly into therapeutic studies, Gabor Petzold of the University Hospital Bonn told the Science Media Center.
“Although there are already approved inhibitors of the complement system for other diseases, more studies must first be carried out to examine the results obtained here in larger groups of patients, which also reflect the pronounced differences in Long Covid,” says Petzold.