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Pro Inflammatory Cytokines Profiles of Patients With Long COVID Differ Between Variant Epochs

Ravindra Ganesh1, Siddhant Yadav1, Ryan T Hurt1

  • 1Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.

Journal of Primary Care & Community Health
|May 29, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Long COVID patients from earlier SARS-COV-2 epochs show higher pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Symptoms remain consistent across variants, indicating Long COVID

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Virology

Background:

  • Long COVID affects over 30% of COVID-19 patients, presenting persistent symptoms beyond 30 days.
  • Elevated peripheral cytokines, including IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α, are linked to Long COVID.
  • SARS-COV-2 variants have emerged, potentially influencing disease progression and outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate cytokine profiles in Long COVID patients.
  • To analyze these profiles across different SARS-COV-2 variant epochs.
  • To determine if cytokine signatures correlate with specific variants or epochs.

Main Methods:

  • Clinical cytokine panels were analyzed in 390 Long COVID patients.
  • Patients were stratified into four variant epochs: wild-type/alpha, alpha/beta/gamma, delta, and omicron.
  • Time to cytokine testing and specific cytokine levels were compared across epochs.

Main Results:

  • Tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β were significantly more elevated in earlier variant epochs (wild-type/alpha) compared to the omicron epoch.
  • The time to cytokine panel testing was longer for earlier epochs.
  • Nucleocapsid antibodies were consistently detected across all epochs.

Conclusions:

  • Early epoch Long COVID patients exhibit persistently elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine levels compared to later epochs.
  • Long COVID symptom clusters appear consistent across variant epochs.
  • The underlying pathology of Long COVID may be independent of peripheral cytokine signatures, suggesting a complex multifactorial etiology.
Abstract

Keywords:
PASCSARS-CoV-2cytokineslong COVIDvariants

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