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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1470193

Proteomic and metabolomic profiling of plasma uncovers immune responses in patients with Long COVID-19

Provisionally accepted
Yulin Wei Yulin Wei 1Hongyan Gu Hongyan Gu 1Jun Ma Jun Ma 1Xiaojuan Mao Xiaojuan Mao 1bing Wang bing Wang 2,3Weiyan Wu Weiyan Wu 2,3Sshiming Yu Sshiming Yu 2,3jinyuan Wang jinyuan Wang 2,3Huan Zhao Huan Zhao 1*Yanbin He Yanbin He 2,3*
  • 1 Sixth People's Hospital of Nantong, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Digital Technology in Medical Diagnostics of Zhejiang Provinces, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Dian Diagnostics Group Co.,Ltd., Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

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

    Long COVID is an often-debilitating condition with severe, multisystem symptoms that can persist for weeks or months and increase the risk of various diseases. Currently, there is a lack of diagnostic tools for Long COVID in clinical practice. Therefore, this study utilizes plasma proteomics and metabolomics technologies to understand the molecular profile and pathophysiological mechanisms of Long COVID, providing clinical evidence for the development of potential biomarkers. This study included three age-and gendermatched cohorts: healthy controls (n=18), COVID-19 recovered patients (n=17), and Long COVID patients (n=15). The proteomics results revealed significant differences in proteins between Long COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 recovered patients, with dysregulation mainly focused on pathways such as coagulation, platelets, complement cascade reactions, GPCR cell signal transduction, and substance transport, which can participate in regulating immune responses, inflammation, and tissue vascular repair. Metabolomics results showed that Long COVID patients and COVID-19 recovered patients have similar metabolic disorders, mainly involving dysregulation in lipid metabolites and fatty acid metabolism, such as glycerophospholipids, sphingolipid metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism processes. In summary, our study results indicate significant protein dysregulation and metabolic abnormalities in the plasma of Long COVID patients, leading to coagulation dysfunction, impaired energy metabolism, and chronic immune dysregulation, which are more pronounced than in COVID-19 recovered patients.

    Keywords: Long COVID1, mechanism2, proteomics3, metabolomics4, Plasma

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 19 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wei, Gu, Ma, Mao, Wang, Wu, Yu, Wang, Zhao and He. 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:
    Huan Zhao, Sixth People's Hospital of Nantong, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
    Yanbin He, Key Laboratory of Digital Technology in Medical Diagnostics of Zhejiang Provinces, Hangzhou, 310030, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.