AUTHOR=Özkan Esra , Celebi Özlem , Keskin Özlem , Gursoy Attila , Gürsoy-Özdemir Yasemin TITLE=Is Persistent Post-COVID Headache Associated With Protein-Protein Interactions Between Antibodies Against Viral Spike Protein and CGRP Receptor?: A Case Report JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pain Research VOLUME=3 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pain-research/articles/10.3389/fpain.2022.858709 DOI=10.3389/fpain.2022.858709 ISSN=2673-561X ABSTRACT=Background

After the acute pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a wide variety of symptoms are identified under the term post-COVID syndrome, such as persistent headache. Post-COVID headache can be presented in a broad spectrum like headache attributed to systemic infection, chronification of already existing primary headache, or long-lasting, and also late-onset new daily persistent headache. Still, little is known about the pathophysiology of post-COVID headache, but activation of the trigeminovascular system may be one of the players.

Case Report

Here, we present a case with a severe, long-lasting post-COVID headache and its sudden cessation with calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibody treatment.

Conclusion

In our previous protein mimicry study, we have pointed at mimicry of virus spike protein and CGRP receptors. This mechanism may enlighten the current, common, and yet unsolved post-COVID headache cases.