Mary Wilson
Well-known member
Study implicates lack of key hormone, battle-weary immune cells, and reawakened viruses
16 AUG 2022 12:30 PM
BY JENNIFER COUZIN-FRANKEL
An ambitious study of people with Long Covid, the mysterious, disabling symptoms that can trail a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has turned up a host of abnormalities in their blood. The clues add to a body of evidence hinting at drivers of the condition and potential treatments worth testing. They also suggest that, as many scientists and patients have suspected, Long Covid shares certain features with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), another condition thought to follow an infection.
The new study, posted as a preprint last week, was modest in size, examining just 99 people with Long Covid. “But it went very deep, it went into granular aspects of the T cells, the antibody response,” says Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who was not involved in the work. “This is exploratory, but it’s the foundation for much bigger studies.”
The Long Covid patients, most of them struggling with intense fatigue, brain fog, and other symptoms, had low levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that helps the body control inflammation, glucose, sleep cycles, and more. Features of their T cells indicated their immune system was battling unidentified invaders, perhaps a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 or a reactivated pathogen such as Epstein-Barr virus.
... The low cortisol levels in the Long Covid patients, about half of normal levels, aren’t a total surprise: Symptoms such as fatigue and muscle weakness are associated with less of the hormone. The cause remains a mystery. ACTH, a hormone made by the pituitary gland that controls cortisol production, was at normal levels in the Long Covid group. Furthermore, note Putrino and others, some Long Covid patients outside the study have tried short courses of steroids, which can treat low cortisol, but say they haven’t helped.
https://www.science.org/content/article/blood-abnormalities-found-people-long-covid
16 AUG 2022 12:30 PM
BY JENNIFER COUZIN-FRANKEL
An ambitious study of people with Long Covid, the mysterious, disabling symptoms that can trail a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has turned up a host of abnormalities in their blood. The clues add to a body of evidence hinting at drivers of the condition and potential treatments worth testing. They also suggest that, as many scientists and patients have suspected, Long Covid shares certain features with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), another condition thought to follow an infection.
The new study, posted as a preprint last week, was modest in size, examining just 99 people with Long Covid. “But it went very deep, it went into granular aspects of the T cells, the antibody response,” says Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who was not involved in the work. “This is exploratory, but it’s the foundation for much bigger studies.”
The Long Covid patients, most of them struggling with intense fatigue, brain fog, and other symptoms, had low levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that helps the body control inflammation, glucose, sleep cycles, and more. Features of their T cells indicated their immune system was battling unidentified invaders, perhaps a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 or a reactivated pathogen such as Epstein-Barr virus.
... The low cortisol levels in the Long Covid patients, about half of normal levels, aren’t a total surprise: Symptoms such as fatigue and muscle weakness are associated with less of the hormone. The cause remains a mystery. ACTH, a hormone made by the pituitary gland that controls cortisol production, was at normal levels in the Long Covid group. Furthermore, note Putrino and others, some Long Covid patients outside the study have tried short courses of steroids, which can treat low cortisol, but say they haven’t helped.
https://www.science.org/content/article/blood-abnormalities-found-people-long-covid
