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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Viral Immunology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1443363
This article is part of the Research Topic Immunological consequences of viral infection on brain homeostasis and cognitive impairment View all articles

Discriminatory biomarkers Galectin-9 and Artemin in Long COVID with chronic fatigue syndrome: Correlation with inflammatory and cognitive markers

Provisionally accepted
Shokrollah Elahi Shokrollah Elahi *Maryam Rezaeifar Maryam Rezaeifar Mohammed Osman Mohammed Osman Shima Shahbaz Shima Shahbaz
  • University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study aimed to assess plasma galectin-9 (Gal-9) and artemin (ARTN) concentrations as potential biomarkers to differentiate individuals with Long COVID (LC) patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) from SARS-CoV-2 recovered (R) and healthy controls (HCs). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis determined a cutoff value of plasma Gal-9 and ARTN to differentiate LC patients from the R group and HCs in two independent cohorts. Positive correlations were observed between elevated plasma Gal-9 levels and inflammatory markers (e.g. SAA and IP-10), as well as sCD14 and I-FABP in LC patients. Gal-9 also exhibited a positive correlation with cognitive failure scores, suggesting its potential role in cognitive impairment in LC patients with ME/CFS. This study highlights plasma Gal-9 and/or ARTN as sensitive screening biomarkers for discriminating LC patients from controls. Notably, the elevation of LPS-binding protein in LC patients, as has been observed in HIV infected individuals, suggests microbial translocation. However, despite elevated Gal-9, we found a significant decline in ARTN levels in the plasma of people living with HIV (PLWH).Our study provides a novel and important role for Gal-9/ARTN in LC pathogenesis.

    Keywords: Long Covid, chronic fatigue syndrome, galectin-9, artemin, microbial translocation, HIV

    Received: 03 Jun 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Elahi, Rezaeifar, Osman and Shahbaz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shokrollah Elahi, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

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