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Updated: Aug 11, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling the Polyfunctionality and Heterogeneity in Immune Responses
Published on: March 8, 2024
Cytokine Deficiencies in Patients with Long-COVID
Elizabeth Scp Williams1, Thomas B Martins2, Kevin S Shah3
1Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States.
Abstract:
Up to half of individuals who contract SARS-CoV-2 develop symptoms of long-COVID approximately three months after initial infection. These symptoms are highly variable, and the mechanisms inducing them are yet to be understood. We compared plasma cytokine levels from individuals with long-COVID to healthy individuals and found that those with long-COVID had 100% reductions in circulating levels of Interferon Gamma (IFNγ) and Interleukin-8 (IL-8). Additionally, we found significant reductions in levels of IL-6, IL-2, IL-17, IL-13, and IL-4 in individuals with long-COVID. We propose immune exhaustion as the driver of long-COVID, with the complete absence of IFNγ and IL-8preventing the lungs and other organs from healing after acute infection, and reducing the ability to fight off subsequent infections, both contributing to the myriad of symptoms suffered by those with long-COVID.
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