New Delhi, May 1
A team of Swedish researchers has identified biomarkers in the blood associated with symptoms of long Covid, particularly severe respiratory disorders.
Long Covid is a condition characterised by persistent symptoms including acute breathlessness and fatigue, after an infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The team from Karolinska Institutet discovered a set of proteins in the blood of people with long Covid. The findings may pave the way for future diagnosis and treatment.
"The proteins were mainly found in patients with long Covid and severe respiratory problems," said Marcus Buggert, docent at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.
"This is a biomarker pattern that we know to be linked to inflammatory signal pathways involved in cell death and lung damage and that has also been observed in other patient groups with severe pulmonary disorders," he added.
For the study, the team analysed blood samples from 265 patients in Sweden and the UK, who contracted Covid when no vaccine was yet available.
Using advanced techniques, the researchers measured thousands of proteins in the blood plasma, which they related to the patient's symptoms.
The results, published in the journal Nature Immunology, exposed the underlying biological processes that can cause certain patients to experience severe symptoms long after previous Covid-19.
"By identifying the proteins that are elevated in affected patients, we're creating a platform from which to develop diagnostic tools and new targeted therapies," Dr. Buggert said. "This is especially important since there are no specific biomarkers and treatments for long Covid."
The team next aims to study lung and gastrointestinal tissue to understand what underpins this pattern.
This will likely enable them to locate the source of the identified proteins and find if there is any remaining inflammation or tissue damage in specific organs of patients with long Covid, they said.
— IANS
Reader Comments
This is such an important breakthrough! So many people in India are suffering from long Covid symptoms without proper diagnosis. Hope our ICMR researchers collaborate with these Swedish scientists to develop affordable tests for our population. ðŸ™
Interesting study but I wonder if the findings apply to Indian patients too. Our diet, environment and genetics are different from Sweden/UK. Would be good to see similar research done in AIIMS or other Indian institutes.
My uncle has been suffering from breathlessness for months after Covid. Doctors just kept saying it's anxiety. Finally some scientific validation that this is real! When will these tests be available in India?
Good research but the sample size seems small (265 patients). Also they only studied unvaccinated cases - what about breakthrough infections? Hope they expand the study to include more diverse populations.
This explains why yoga and pranayama have helped so many long Covid patients in India! The breathing exercises must be counteracting these inflammatory proteins. Our ancient wisdom meets modern science once again. 😊
The government should immediately fund similar research in India. We had one of the largest Covid waves - imagine the data we could contribute to global understanding of long Covid!
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