tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Cells
. 2025 Nov 26;14(23):1875.
doi: 10.3390/cells14231875. Chronic Inflammation and Altered Immune Responses in LongCOVID Associate with Neurological Manifestations and Accelerated Aging
Norina Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Judith M Ford[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Kaitlyn Dal Bon[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lynn Pulliam[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
There is a subgroup of people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus who manifest lingering sequelae (LongC), with neurological symptoms (nLongC). We recruited 86 COVID-19 volunteers, 35 of whom were fully recovered (Cov) and 51 who had neurological symptoms (nLongC) 4-53 months after infection and compared them to 51 healthy pre-pandemic controls (HC). Thirty-five percent of nLongC individuals carried the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene, compared to 11% of Cov. Four plasma proteins, interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin 8 (IL-8), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and hemopexin, continued to be elevated in both Cov and nLongC compared to HC. Soluble CD14 was elevated in nLongC but not Cov. As a group, IL-1β decreased over time in Cov but not nLongC. Two of the elevated proteins, IL-8 and GFAP, correlated with age, with both Cov and nLongC showing higher levels than HC. Using a combination of four plasma proteins, along with age, body mass index, and APOE4 presence, we were able to achieve an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81. These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a low-grade inflammatory process that, even months or years after infection, does not return to pre-COVID-19 levels, which may contribute to neurologic sequelae and accelerated aging.
Keywords: Ella automated microfluidic ELISA; PASC; accelerated aging; brain fog; inflammaging; longCOVID-19; plasma biomarkers.
. 2025 Nov 26;14(23):1875.
doi: 10.3390/cells14231875. Chronic Inflammation and Altered Immune Responses in LongCOVID Associate with Neurological Manifestations and Accelerated Aging
Norina Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Judith M Ford[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Kaitlyn Dal Bon[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lynn Pulliam[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 41369364
- PMCID: PMC12691478
- DOI: 10.3390/cells14231875
There is a subgroup of people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus who manifest lingering sequelae (LongC), with neurological symptoms (nLongC). We recruited 86 COVID-19 volunteers, 35 of whom were fully recovered (Cov) and 51 who had neurological symptoms (nLongC) 4-53 months after infection and compared them to 51 healthy pre-pandemic controls (HC). Thirty-five percent of nLongC individuals carried the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene, compared to 11% of Cov. Four plasma proteins, interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin 8 (IL-8), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and hemopexin, continued to be elevated in both Cov and nLongC compared to HC. Soluble CD14 was elevated in nLongC but not Cov. As a group, IL-1β decreased over time in Cov but not nLongC. Two of the elevated proteins, IL-8 and GFAP, correlated with age, with both Cov and nLongC showing higher levels than HC. Using a combination of four plasma proteins, along with age, body mass index, and APOE4 presence, we were able to achieve an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81. These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a low-grade inflammatory process that, even months or years after infection, does not return to pre-COVID-19 levels, which may contribute to neurologic sequelae and accelerated aging.
Keywords: Ella automated microfluidic ELISA; PASC; accelerated aging; brain fog; inflammaging; longCOVID-19; plasma biomarkers.