This is why 3 out of 10 suffer from persistent symptoms
A recent promising study is likely to reveal the culprit behind the prolonged COVID-19. Read what the researchers found and what it means for patients with persistent symptoms
A UAMS research team has uncovered a possible cause of the long-covid symptoms reported by COVID-19 patients, also known as long-haulers.
The findings were published in The Public Library of Science ONE (PLOS ONE).
According to lead researcher John Arthur, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chief of the Division of Nephrology in the UAMS College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, an antibody that appears weeks after an initial infection and attacks and disrupts a key regulator of the immune system is at the heart of the team’s findings.
As many as 30 percent of COVID-19 patients report persistent fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath. The reason of extended COVID-19 has puzzled experts, but the UAMS team’s discovery gives new light on the molecular pathways that underpin it.
“Everything that we’ve found is consistent with this antibody as the instigator of long COVID, so it’s an exciting development that merits further study,” Arthur said.
The antibody wreaks havoc on the immune system by attacking the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) (ACE2). By metabolizing a peptide that activates the immune system, the ACE2 enzyme aids in the regulation of the body’s response to the virus. Because the attacking antibody interferes with ACE2’s function, it is a primary suspect in the long-term disease.
The UAMS Translational Research Institute rapidly assembled a research team this spring to investigate the concept suggested by Arthur and UAMS’ Terry Harville, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pathology and medical director of the Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratories.
The assay (test) used to identify the two antibodies was created by researchers Karl Boehme, Ph.D., Craig Forrest, Ph.D., and Shana Owens, Ph.D. in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Researchers looked for ACE2 antibodies in plasma or serum from 67 patients with known SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection and 13 with no history of infection. The antibody that attacked the ACE2 was found in 81 percent of blood samples from COVID-19 patients in Arkansas and Oklahoma. No antibodies were produced against the ACE2 enzyme in subjects who had never been exposed to COVID-19.
“If we show that the whole hypothesis is right, that this interference of ACE2 really does cause long COVID, then it opens up many potential treatments,” Arthur said.
“If our next steps confirm that this antibody is the cause of long COVID symptoms, there are medications that should work to treat them. If we get to that phase of research, the next step would be to test these drugs and hopefully relieve people of the symptoms they’re having.”
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