literature published in 2022-2023
Updated October 20, 2023
1 JAN 2022: Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron or Delta infection (medRxiv preprint)
“receipt of 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccines was not protective against Omicron. Vaccine effectiveness against Omicron was 37% (95%CI, 19-50%) ≥7 days after receiving an mRNA vaccine for the third dose.”
2 JAN 2022: Outcomes of patients with thromboembolic events following coronavirus disease 2019 AstraZeneca vaccination (Blood Coagulation & Fibrinolysis)
4 JAN 2022: A virus-specific monocyte inflammatory phenotype is induced by SARS-CoV-2 at the immune–epithelial interface (PNAS)
“These results suggest that the inflammatory malfunction in COVID-19 is rooted in the earliest perturbations that SARS-CoV-2 induces in epithelia.”
4 JAN 2020: The coronavirus may cause fat cells to miscommunicate, leading to diabetes (ScienceNews Article)
5 JAN 2022: Association Between Menstrual Cycle Length and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination (Obstetrics & Gynecology)
“Overall, COVID-19 vaccine was associated with a less than 1-day change in cycle length for both vaccine-dose cycles compared with prevaccine cycles (first dose 0.71 day-increase, 98.75% CI 0.47–0.94; second dose 0.91, 98.75% CI 0.63–1.19); unvaccinated individuals saw no significant change compared with three baseline cycles”
5 JAN 2022: Reported Cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Aged 12–20 Years in the United States Who Received COVID-19 Vaccine, December 2020 through August 2021 (medRxiv preprint)
“In our case series, we describe a small number of persons with MIS-C who had received ≥1 COVID-19 vaccine dose before illness onset. Continued reporting of potential cases and surveillance for MIS-C illnesses after COVID-19 vaccination is warranted.”
5 JAN 2022: Dry heat sterilization as a method to recycle N95 respirator masks: The importance of fit (PLOS One)
6 JAN 2022: Protection afforded by prior infection against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection with the Omicron variant (medRxiv preprint)
“Protection afforded by prior infection in preventing symptomatic reinfection with Alpha, Beta, or Delta is robust, at about 90%. While such protection against reinfection with Omicron is lower, it is still considerable at nearly 60%. Prior-infection protection against hospitalization or death at reinfection appears robust, regardless of variant.”
7 JAN 2022: Antibody-dependent enhancement of virus infection and disease: implications in COVID-19 (DeGruyter)
10 JAN 2022: Mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause multi-lineage cellular dysregulation and myelin loss in the brain (medRxiv preprint)
“Using a mouse model of mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection induced by intranasal SARS-CoV-2 delivery, we found white matter-selective microglial reactivity, a pattern observed in CRCI. Human brain tissue from 9 individuals with COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection exhibits the same pattern of prominent white matter-selective microglial reactivity. In mice, pro-inflammatory CSF cytokines/chemokines were elevated for at least 7-weeks post-infection; among the chemokines demonstrating persistent elevation is CCL11, which is associated with impairments in neurogenesis and cognitive function. Humans experiencing long-COVID with cognitive symptoms (48 subjects) similarly demonstrate elevated CCL11 levels compared to those with long-COVID who lack cognitive symptoms (15 subjects). Impaired hippocampal neurogenesis, decreased oligodendrocytes and myelin loss in subcortical white matter were evident at 1 week, and persisted until at least 7 weeks, following mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice.”
Twitter Thread from one of the authors
10 JAN 2020: Direct Comparison of SARS Co-V-2 Nasal RT- PCR and Rapid Antigen Test (BinaxNOW(TM)) at a Community Testing Site During an Omicron Surge (medRxiv preprint)
10 JAN 2022: Anti-PEG antibodies boosted in humans by SARS-CoV-2 lipid nanoparticle mRNA vaccine (medRxiv preprint)
“A rise in PEG antibodies following vaccination was associated with an increase in the association of PEG-based nanoparticles to blood immune cells ex vivo. We conclude that low level PEG-specific antibodies can be modestly boosted by a lipid nanoparticle mRNA-vaccine and that PEG-specific antibodies are associated with higher reactogenicity. The longer-term clinical impact of the increase in PEG-specific antibodies induced by lipid nanoparticle mRNA-vaccines should be monitored.”
10 JAN 2022: Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants (J Nat Prod)
“In follow-up virus neutralization assays, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid prevented infection of human epithelial cells by a pseudovirus expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and prevented entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells. Importantly, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid were equally effective against the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant B.1.1.7 and the beta variant B.1.351. Orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids, isolated or in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.”
11 JAN 2022: A single-cell atlas reveals shared and distinct immune responses and metabolism during SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 infections (bioRxiv preprint)
“While immune cells in both cohorts show shared inflammation and disrupted mitochondrial function, COVID-19 patients exhibit stronger humoral immunity, broader IFN-I signaling, elevated Rho GTPase and mTOR pathway activities, and downregulated mitophagy.”
11 JAN 2022: Acute Cardiac Events After ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Corona Virus Vaccine: Report of 3 Cases (American Journal of Therapeutics)
12 JAN 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Neutralization in Serum from Vaccinated and Convalescent Persons (NEJM Correspondence)
13 JAN 2022: Immunological dysfunction persists for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature Immunology Letter)
“Patients with LC had highly activated innate immune cells, lacked naive T and B cells and showed elevated expression of type I IFN (IFN-β) and type III IFN (IFN-λ1) that remained persistently high at 8 months after infection. … Combinations of the inflammatory mediators IFN-β, PTX3, IFN-γ, IFN-λ2/3 and IL-6 associated with LC with 78.5–81.6% accuracy.”
13 JAN 2022: Comparison of serum neurodegenerative biomarkers among hospitalized COVID-19 patients versus non-COVID subjects with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, or Alzheimer’s dementia (The Journal of Alzheimers)
“Neurodegenerative biomarkers were elevated to levels observed in AD dementia and associated with encephalopathy and worse outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.”
14 JAN 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Reinfections: Overview of Efficacy and Duration of Natural and Hybrid Immunity (SSRN)
“Observational studies indicate that natural immunity may offer equal or greater protection against SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to individuals receiving two doses of an mRNA vaccine, but data are not fully consistent. The combination of a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and a respective vaccination, termed hybrid immunity, seems to confer the greatest protection against SARS-CoV-2 infections, but several knowledge gaps remain regarding this issue. Natural immunity should be considered for public health policy regarding SARS-CoV-2.”
17 JAN 2022: The Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Is Driven by Acceleration of the Substitution Rate (Molecular Biology and Evolution)
“We find compelling evidence that episodic, instead of long term, increases in the substitution rate underpin the emergence of VOCs”
18 JAN 2022: Cerebrospinal Fluid Offers Clues to Post-COVID ‘Brain Fog’ (UCSF Press Release)
“They found that 10 of 13 participants with cognitive symptoms had anomalies in their cerebrospinal fluid. But all four of the cerebrospinal samples from participants with no post-COVID cognitive symptoms were normal.”
18 JAN 2022: Obesity associated with attenuated tissue immune cell responses in COVID-19 (medRxiv preprint)
“…these findings show blunted tissue immune responses in Ob COVID-19 patients, with clinical implications.”
19 JAN 2022: COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations by COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Previous COVID-19 Diagnosis — California and New York, May–November 2021 (CDC Early Release)
“During May–November 2021, case and hospitalization rates were highest among persons who were unvaccinated without a previous diagnosis. Before Delta became the predominant variant in June, case rates were higher among persons who survived a previous infection than persons who were vaccinated alone. By early October, persons who survived a previous infection had lower case rates than persons who were vaccinated alone.”
20 JAN 2022: In rare cases, coronavirus vaccines may cause Long Covid–like symptoms (science.org article)
20 JAN 2022: Cannabidiol inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through induction of the host ER stress and innate immune responses (Science Advances)
“In matched groups of human patients from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, CBD (100 mg/ml oral solution per medical records) had a significant negative association with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests. This study highlights CBD as a potential preventative agent for early-stage SARS-CoV-2 infection and merits future clinical trials.”
20 JAN 2022: Nervous system consequences of COVID-19 (Science)
MedXpress Press Release: Researchers highlight COVID-19 neurological symptoms and need for rigorous studies
21 JAN 2022: SARS-CoV-2 induces human endogenous retrovirus type W envelope protein expression in blood lymphocytes and in tissues of COVID-19 patients (medRxiv preprint)
“the present study revealed that SARS-CoV-2 can induce HERV-W ENV expression in cells from individuals with symptomatic and severe COVID-19. Our data suggest that HERV-W ENV is likely to be involved in pathogenic features underlying symptoms of acute and post-acute COVID.”
21 JAN 2022: Decreased memory B cell frequencies in COVID-19 delta variant vaccine breakthrough infection (EMBO Molecular Medicine)
“Vaccine breakthrough cases showed lower memory B cell frequencies against SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD). Compared to plasma antibodies, antibodies secreted by memory B cells retained a higher fraction of neutralizing properties against the Delta variant.”
21 JAN 2022: Case Report: Fatal Acute Liver Failure With Giant Cell Transformation in a Pediatric Patient Associated With MIS-C (Front. Ped.)
”We report a case of SARS-COV-2 infection probably presenting as rapidly progressive fulminant liver failure without respiratory symptoms”
22 JAN 2022: T cell apoptosis characterizes severe Covid-19 disease (Nature Cell Death & Differentiation)
“our results are compatible with a model in which T-cell apoptosis accounts for T lymphopenia in individuals with severe COVID-19. Therefore, a strategy aimed at blocking caspase activation could be beneficial for preventing immunodeficiency in COVID-19 patients.”
24 JAN 2022: Sars-CoV-2 spike protein activates human endogenous retroviruses in blood cells (phys.org article)
24 JAN 2022: Case Report: COVID-19 Vaccination Associated Fulminant Myocarditis (Front. Cardiovasc. Med.)
“Herein, we describe a novel finding of fulminant myocarditis (FM) in two subjects the day after administration of the first dose of the currently available inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (Vero cell). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed extensive myocardial edema and necrosis. A pathologic evaluation of the endocardial biopsy tissues revealed inflammatory cell (lymphocytes) infiltration and interstitial edema, myocyte necrosis, and focal areas of fibrosis.”
25 JAN 2022: Carditis After COVID-19 Vaccination With a Messenger RNA Vaccine and an Inactivated Virus Vaccine (Annals of Internal Med)
“Despite a low absolute risk, there is an increased risk for carditis associated with BNT162b2 vaccination. This elevated risk should be weighed against the benefits of vaccination.”
25 JAN 2022: Immuno-proteomic profiling reveals aberrant immune cell regulation in the airways of individuals with ongoing post-COVD-19 respiratory disease (Cell Immunity)
“In summary, COVID-19 causes a prolonged change to the airway immune landscape in those with persistent lung disease, with evidence of cell death and tissue repair linked to ongoing activation of cytotoxic T cells.”
25 JAN 2022: SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers paracrine senescence and leads to a sustained senescence-associated inflammatory response (Nature Aging)
“Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2-infected cells trigger senescence-like cell-cycle arrest in neighboring uninfected cells in a paracrine manner via virus-induced cytokine production. In cultured human cells or bronchial organoids, these SASR-CoV-2 infection-induced senescent cells express high levels of a series of inflammatory factors known as senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASPs)in a sustained manner, even after SARS-CoV-2 is no longer detectable.”
25 JAN 2022: Overall and cause-specific hospitalisation and death after COVID-19 hospitalisation in England (PLOS Med)
“In this study, we observed that people discharged from a COVID-19 hospital admission had markedly higher risks for rehospitalisation and death than the general population”
26 JAN 2022: Gut microbiota dynamics in a prospective cohort of patients with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (BMJ Gut)
“These findings provided observational evidence of compositional alterations of gut microbiome in patients with long-term complications of COVID-19. Further studies should investigate whether microbiota modulation can facilitate timely recovery from post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.”
26 JAN 2022: Can Covid-19 vaccines cause or exacerbate bullous pemphigoid? A report of seven cases from one center (Int Journal of Dermatology)
26 JAN 2022: Protective Efficacy of Gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 Delivery against Intranasal and Intratracheal SARS-CoV-2 Challenge in Rhesus Macaques (Journal of Virology)
“Here, we report that oral administration of live SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates may offer prophylactic benefits, but the formulation and route of administration will require further optimization.”
28 JAN 2022: Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection with Accumulation of Mutations in a Patient with Poorly Controlled HIV Infection (SSRN)
“A 22-year-old female with uncontrolled advanced HIV infection was persistently infected with SARS-CoV-2 beta variant for 9 months, the virus accumulating >20 additional mutations.”
29 JAN 2022: SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-associated subacute thyroiditis: insights from a systematic review (J of Endocrinological Investigation)
1 FEB 2022: SARS-CoV-2 invades cognitive centers of the brain and induces Alzheimer’s-like neuropathology (medRxiv preprint)
“Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 invades the brains of five patients with COVID-19 and Alzheimers, autism, frontotemporal dementia or no underlying condition by infecting neurons and other cells in the cortex. SARS-CoV-2 induces or enhances Alzheimers-like neuropathology with manifestations of beta-amyloid aggregation and plaque formation, tauopathy, neuroinflammation and cell death.”
2 FEB 2022: Anti-idiotype Antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination (NEJM)
“The possibility that anti-idiotype antibodies or other immune-mediated mechanisms targeting neuropilin 1 may be involved in vaccine-related complications, including neurologic sequelae, should be considered during clinical evaluations and investigated to improve the current vaccines.”
3 FEB 2022: Pre-infection 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels and association with severity of COVID-19 illness (PLOS One)
“Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, pre-infection deficiency of vitamin D was associated with increased disease severity and mortality.”
Press Release: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/942287
3 FEB 2022: Prevalence and Durability of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Among Unvaccinated US Adults by History of COVID-19 (JAMA)
“In this cross-sectional study of unvaccinated US adults, antibodies were detected in 99% of individuals who reported a positive COVID-19 test result, in 55% who believed they had COVID-19 but were never tested, and in 11% who believed they had never had COVID-19 infection. Anti-RBD levels were observed after a positive COVID-19 test result up to 20 months, extending previous 6-month durability data.”
7 FEB 2022: Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19 (Nature Medicine)
“In summary, using a national cohort of people with COVID-19, we show that risk and 12-month burden of incident cardiovascular disease are substantial and span several cardiovascular disease categories (ischemic and non-ischemic heart disease, dysrhythmias and others). The risks and burdens of cardiovascular disease were evident even among those whose acute COVID-19 did not necessitate hospitalization.”
7 FEB 2022: The presence of serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA appears to protect primary health care workers from COVID-19 (European Journal of Immunology)
10 FEB 2022: Placental Tissue Destruction and Insufficiency from COVID-19 Causes Stillbirth and Neonatal Death from Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury: A Study of 68 Cases with SARS-CoV-2 Placentitis from 12 Countries (Arch Pathol Lab Med)
MedXpress Press Release: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-coronavirus-placenta-stillbirths.html
11 FEB 2022: Cardiac magnetic resonance findings in acute myocarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Journal of Cardiology)
“We report the case of a 20-year-old previously healthy man who presented with fever and chest pain 2 days after the second dose of mRNA-1273 vaccine. Electrocardiogram and laboratory studies showed extensive ST-segment elevation accompanied by elevated cardiac biomarkers.”
12 FEB 2022: RIG-I-induced innate antiviral immunity protects mice from lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection (Cell)
“In the present study, we evaluated whether prophylactic and therapeutic activation of innate antiviral immunity through i.v. administration of a specific RIG-I ligand protects mice from SARS-CoV-2 infection. … our study demonstrates that RIG-I agonist-mediated antiviral prophylaxis has great potential in the context of SARS-CoV-2, but it is also a promising approach against newly emerging viruses, in which it could be used to limit outbreaks and prevent pandemic spread.”MedXpress Press Release: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-strategy-covid-prophylaxis.html
15 FEB 2022: SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells associate with reduced lung function and inflammation in pulmonary post-acute sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv preprint)
“these findings demonstrate elevated frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in individuals with pulmonary PASC are associated with increased systemic inflammation and decreased lung function, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells contribute to lingering pulmonary symptoms.”
15 FEB 2022: Surveillance of Myopericarditis following COVID-19 Booster Dose Vaccination in a Large Integrated Health System (medRxiv preprint)
“We identified a rate of 9.1 cases of myopericarditis per 100,000 COVID-19 booster doses which is higher than prior estimates reported by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Myopericarditis occurs following COVID-19 booster vaccine and may be underreported by current surveillance methods.”
15 FEB 2022: Myocardial Injury Pattern at MRI in COVID-19 Vaccine–associated Myocarditis (Radiology)
16 FEB 2022: Disruption in lung cell repair may underlie ARDS in COVID-19 and other diseases (medXpress press release)
“In patients who survive but develop scarring in the lungs, it appears that the repair process is permanently arrested, leading to chronic fibrotic lung disease.”
18 FEB 2022: COVID-19 vaccination and Guillain-Barré syndrome: analyses using the National Immunoglobulin Database (Brain)
“Analysis of the linked NID/NIMS dataset suggests that first-dose ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination is associated with an excess GBS risk of 0.576 (95%CI 0.481-0.691) cases per 100,000 doses. … The pathogenic cause of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 specific first dose link warrants further study.”
25 FEB 2022: Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line (current issues in molecular biology)
25 FEB 2022: A central role for amyloid fibrin microclots in long COVID/PASC: origins and therapeutic implications (Biochem J)
“Although the symptoms of Long COVID are multifarious, we here argue that the ability of these fibrin amyloid microclots (fibrinaloids) to block up capillaries, and thus to limit the passage of red blood cells and hence O2 exchange, can actually underpin the majority of these symptoms. Consistent with this, in a preliminary report, it has been shown that suitable and closely monitored ‘triple’ anticoagulant therapy that leads to the removal of the microclots also removes the other symptoms. Fibrin amyloid microclots represent a novel and potentially important target for both the understanding and treatment of Long COVID and related disorders.”
1 MAR 2022: Peripheral Neuropathy Evaluations of Patients With Prolonged Long COVID (Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation)
“Among evaluated patients with long COVID, prolonged, often disabling, small-fiber neuropathy after mild SARS-CoV-2 was most common, beginning within 1 month of COVID-19 onset. Various evidence suggested infection-triggered immune dysregulation as a common mechanism.”
1 MAR 2022: SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals could have different variants hidden in different parts of the body (medXpress press release)
2 MAR 2022: Severe Neuro-COVID is associated with peripheral immune signatures, autoimmunity and signs of neurodegeneration: a prospective cross-sectional study (medRxiv preprint)
“Neuro-COVID class III patients had a strong, peripheral immune response resulting in (1) BBB impairment (2) ingress of (auto-)antibodies, (3) microglia activation and neuronal damage signatures.”
3 MAR 2022: Understanding the Effects of Age and T-Cell Differentiation on COVID-19 Severity: Implicating a Fas/FasL-mediated Feed-Forward Controller of T-Cell Differentiation (Frontiers in Immunology Opinion)
3 MAR 2022: Understanding the Effects of Age and T-Cell Differentiation on COVID-19 Severity: Implicating a Fas/FasL-mediated Feed-Forward Controller of T-Cell Differentiation (Frontiers in Immunology Opinion)
“If this dynamic is correct and appreciable, COVID-19 reinfections may manifest more severe disease as T cell repertoires age and Tn reduce in frequency, manifesting in an individual and demographic level.”
7 MAR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 is associated with changes in brain structure in UK Biobank (Nature)
“We identified significant longitudinal effects when comparing the two groups, including: (i) greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue-contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, (ii) greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally-connected to the primary olfactory cortex, and (iii) greater reduction in global brain size. The infected participants also showed on average larger cognitive decline between the two timepoints. Importantly, these imaging and cognitive longitudinal effects were still seen after excluding the 15 cases who had been hospitalised”
Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/03/21/a-case-of-shrunken-brains-how-covid-19-may-damage-brain-cells/?sh=7ddc429370ff
10 MAR 2022: Omicron BA.2 specifically evades broad sarbecovirus neutralizing antibodies (bioRxiv preprint)
“we show that BA.2 causes strong neutralization resistance, comparable to BA.1, in vaccinated individuals’ plasma. However, BA.2 displays more severe antibody evasion in BA.1 convalescents, and most prominently, in vaccinated SARS convalescents’ plasma, suggesting a substantial antigenicity difference between BA.2 and BA.1 … we showed that BA.2 exhibits distinct antigenicity compared to BA.1 and provided a comprehensive profile of SARS-CoV-2 antibody escaping mutations.”
11 MAR 2022: ACE2-independent infection of T lymphocytes by SARS-CoV-2 (Nature)
“we demonstrated that LFA-1, the protein exclusively expresses in multiple leukocytes, is more likely the entry molecule that mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection in T cells, compared to a list of other known receptors. Collectively, this work confirmed a SARS-CoV-2 infection of T cells, in a spike-ACE2-independent manner, which shed novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-induced lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients.”
11 MAR 2022: Erythro-VLPs: Anchoring SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in erythrocyte liposomes (PLOS)
“This red blood cell based platform can open novel possibilities for therapeutics for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) including variants, and other viruses in the future.”
MedXpress Press Release
14 MAR 2022: Case Report: Anti-NF186+ CIDP After Receiving the Inactivated Vaccine for Coronavirus Disease (Front Neurol)
15 MAR 2022: Mild COVID-19 imprints a long-term inflammatory eicosanoid- and chemokine memory in monocyte-derived macrophages (Nature Mucosal Immunology)
“SARS-CoV-2 infection leaves an inflammatory imprint in the monocyte/ macrophage compartment that drives aberrant macrophage effector functions and eicosanoid metabolism, resulting in long-term immune aberrations in patients recovering from mild COVID-19.”
MedXpress press release
17 MAR 2022: Neutralizing immunity in vaccine breakthrough infections from the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants (Cell)
“Following either Delta or Omicron breakthrough infection, limited variant-specific cross-neutralizing immunity was observed. These results suggest that Omicron breakthrough infections are less immunogenic than Delta, thus providing reduced protection against reinfection or infection from future variants.”
17 MAR 2022: De novo emergence of a remdesivir resistance mutation during treatment of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection in an immunocompromised patient: a case report (Nature Communications)
“We present a case of an immunocompromised patient with acquired B-cell deficiency who developed an indolent, protracted course of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Remdesivir therapy alleviated symptoms and produced a transient virologic response, but her course was complicated by recrudescence of high-grade viral shedding.”
17 MAR 2022: Immune imprinting, breadth of variant recognition, and germinal center response in human SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination (Cell)
“We find that prior vaccination with Wuhan-Hu-1-like antigens followed by infection with Alpha or Delta variants gives rise to plasma antibody responses with apparent Wuhan-Hu-1-specific imprinting manifesting as relatively decreased responses to the variant virus epitopes, compared with unvaccinated patients infected with those variant viruses. …“The extent to which vaccine boosting or infection with different variants will effectively elicit antibody responses to new epitopes or rather increase responses to the epitopes of antigens encountered previously, as in the “original antigenic sin” phenomenon described for influenza virus infection and vaccination (Arevalo et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2019), will be an important topic of ongoing study.”
18 MAR 2022: Sulforaphane exhibits antiviral activity against pandemic SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal HCoV-OC43 coronaviruses in vitro and in mice (Nature)
“Prophylactic administration of SFN to K18-hACE2 mice prior to intranasal SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly decreased the viral load in the lungs and upper respiratory tract and reduced lung injury and pulmonary pathology compared to untreated infected mice. SFN treatment diminished immune cell activation in the lungs, including significantly lower recruitment of myeloid cells and a reduction in T cell activation and cytokine production. Our results suggest that SFN should be explored as a potential agent for the prevention or treatment of coronavirus infections.”
Press Release: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-chemical-leafy-greens-shown-growth.html
21 MAR 2022: Risks and burdens of incident diabetes in long COVID: a cohort study (Lancet Diabetes)
“Risks and burdens of post-acute outcomes increased in a graded fashion according to the severity of the acute phase of COVID-19 (whether patients were non-hospitalised, hospitalised, or admitted to intensive care).”
21 MAR 2022: Multi-organ impairment and Long COVID: a 1-year prospective, longitudinal cohort study (medRxiv preprint)
“Organ impairment was present in 59% of individuals at 6 months post-COVID-19, persisting in 59% of those followed up at 1 year, with implications for symptoms, quality of life and longer-term health,”
21 MAR 2022: Eicosanoid signaling blockade protects middle-aged mice from severe COVID-19 (Nature)
“A study published today in Nature shows that an oral drug that reverses multiple aspects of immune aging effectively prevents death in a mouse model of COVID-19”
MedXpress press release: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-oral-drug-death-covid-mice.html
23 MAR 2022: Burden of PCR-Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection in the U.S. Veterans Administration, March 2020 – January 2022 (medRxiv preprint)
“We identified 308,051 initial cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed in VHA between March 2020 and January 2022; 58,456 (19.0%) were associated with VHA hospitalizations. A second PCR-positive test occurred in 9,203 patients in VA at least 90-days after their first positive test in VHA; 1,562 (17.0%) were associated with VHA hospitalizations. An additional 189 cases were identified as PCR-positive a third time at least 90-days after their second PCR-positive infection in VHA; 49 (25.9%) were associated with VHA hospitalizations.”
23 MAR 2022: Superantigens and SARS-CoV-2 (Pathogens)
24 MAR 2022: Post-acute sensory neurological sequelae in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection: the COVID-PN observational cohort study (PAIN)
25 MAR 2022: Persistent Overactive Cytotoxic Immune Response in a Spanish Cohort of Individuals With Long-COVID: Identification of Diagnostic Biomarkers (Front Immunol)
25 MAR 2022: Persistent Cardiac MRI Findings in a Cohort of Adolescents with post COVID-19 mRNA vaccine myopericarditis (Journal of Pediatrics)
“In a cohort of adolescents with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine-related myopericarditis, a large portion have persistent LGE abnormalities, raising concerns for potential longer-term effects.”
28 MAR 2022: A TMPRSS2 inhibitor acts as a pan-SARS-CoV-2 prophylactic and therapeutic (Nature)
“we have developed and characterized N-0385, a novel highly potent inhibitor of TMPRSS2-like proteases that blocks SARS-CoV-2 VOCs (B.1.1.7, P.1, B.1.351 and B.1.617.2) and is broadly protective against infection and mortality in mice. In addition, we demonstrated that N-0385 provides a novel effective early treatment option against SARS-CoV-2 and the B.1.617.2 Delta VOC.”
30 MAR 2022: Severe outcomes in unvaccinated COVID-19 cases <18 years during different variant waves in Norway (medRxiv preprint)
“We found no evidence of a difference in the risk of hospitalisation due to acute COVID-19 among unvaccinated cases <18 years for Omicron compared to Delta, but a reduced risk among cases <1 year in Omicron and Delta waves, compared to Alpha. Results also suggest a decrease in the risk of MIS-C in the Omicron wave compared to the Alpha and Delta waves.”
31 MAR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induces cognitive deficit and anxiety-like behavior in mouse via non-cell autonomous hippocampal neuronal death (nature)
“our data suggest a novel pathogenic mechanism for the COVID-19-associated neurological symptoms that involves glia activation and non-cell autonomous hippocampal neuronal death by the brain-infiltrating S1 protein.”
APR 2022: ARS-CoV-2 Infects Human ACE2-Negative Endothelial Cells through an αvβ3 Integrin-Mediated Endocytosis Even in the Presence of Vaccine-Elicited Neutralizing Antibodies (Viruses)
3 APR 2022: High rate of BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2 infection in triple vaccinated (medRxiv preprint)
6 APR 2022: FcγR-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of monocytes activates inflammation (Nature)
“These findings taken together suggest that antibody-mediated SARS-CoV-2 uptake by monocytes/macrophages triggers inflammatory cell death that aborts production of infectious virus but causes systemic inflammation that contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis.”
genengnews article: https://www.genengnews.com/virology/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-causes-severe-inflammation-in-some-people-heres-how/
6 APR 2022: High incidence of sotrovimab resistance and viral persistence after treatment of immunocompromised patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (medRxiv preprint)
“Viral evolution towards resistance against sotrovimab can explain treatment failure in most immunocompromised patients and these patients can remain infectious after treatment. Therefore, documenting viral clearance after treatment is recommended to avoid that these patients unintentionally become a source of new, sotrovimab resistant, variants.”
6 APR 2022: Risks of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding after covid-19: nationwide self-controlled cases series and matched cohort study (BMJ)
“The findings of this study suggest that covid-19 is a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding. These results could impact recommendations on diagnostic and prophylactic strategies against venous thromboembolism after covid-19.”
7 APR 2022: Applying lessons learned from nanomedicines to understand rare hypersensitivity reactions to mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines (Nature)
8 APR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, but not Omicron, induces thymic atrophy and impaired T cell development (bioRxiv preprint)
“we provide the first report of SARS-CoV-2 associated thymic atrophy resulting from impaired T cell developmental pathway and also explains dysregulated T cell function in COVID-19.”
8 APR 2022: Brain Inflammation and Intracellular α-Synuclein Aggregates in Macaques after SARS-CoV-2 Infection (viruses)
“Postmortem analysis demonstrated the infiltration of T-cells and activated microglia in the parenchyma of all infected animals, even in the absence of viral antigen or RNA. Moreover, intracellular α-synuclein aggregates were found in the brains of both macaque species. The heterogeneity of these manifestations in the brains indicates the virus’ neuropathological potential and should be considered a warning for long-term health risks, following SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
12 APR 2022: Gastrointestinal symptoms and fecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 RNA suggest prolonged gastrointestinal infection (Cell)
“The extended presence of viral RNA in feces, but not respiratory samples, along with the association of fecal viral RNA shedding with GI symptoms suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infects the GI tract, and that this infection can be prolonged in a subset of individuals with COVID-19.”
20 APR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Myocarditis in a Nordic Cohort Study of 23 Million Residents (JAMA)
“Among males 16 to 24 years of age, adjusted IRRs were 5.31 (95% CI, 3.68-7.68) for a second dose of BNT162b2 and 13.83 (95% CI, 8.08-23.68) for a second dose of mRNA-1273, and numbers of excess events were 5.55 (95% CI, 3.70-7.39) events per 100 000 vaccinees after the second dose of BNT162b2 and 18.39 (9.05-27.72) events per 100 000 vaccinees after the second dose of mRNA-1273. Estimates for pericarditis were similar.”
19 APR 2022: Accelerated biological aging in COVID-19 patients (nature communications)
20 APR 2022: A 62-Year-Old Man Presenting with Bilateral Tremor of the Upper Limb After a Diagnosis of COVID-19 with Confirmed Volumetric Brain Loss (American Journal of Case Reports)
21 APR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 vaccination can elicit a CD8 T-cell dominant hepatitis (Journal of Hepatology)
“COVID19 vaccination can elicit a distinct T cell-dominant immune-mediated hepatitis with a unique pathomechanism associated with vaccination induced antigen-specific tissue-resident immunity requiring systemic immunosuppression.”
25 APR 2022: Systemic and mucosal IgA responses are variably induced in response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination and are associated with protection against subsequent infection (Nature Mucosal Immunity)
“Examining two prospective cohorts we found that participants who experienced breakthrough infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants had lower levels of vaccine-induced serum anti-Spike/RBD IgA at 2–4 weeks post-dose 2 compared to participants who did not experience an infection, whereas IgG levels were comparable between groups.”
25 APR 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Mimics Inflammatory Proteins In Our Body (Forbes)
28 APR 2022: Post-acute COVID-19 is characterized by gut viral antigen persistence in inflammatory bowel diseases (Gastroenterology)
“Our results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 antigen persistence in infected tissues serves as a basis for post-acute COVID-19. The concept that viral antigen persistence instigates immune perturbation and post-acute COVID-19 requires validation in controlled clinical trials.”
28 APR 2022: Multivariate profile and acute-phase correlates of cognitive deficits in a COVID-19 hospitalised cohort (Lancet)
“Cognitive deficits after severe COVID-19 relate most strongly to acute illness severity, persist long into the chronic phase, and recover slowly if at all, with a characteristic profile highlighting higher cognitive functions and processing speed.”
29 APR 2022: Could SARS-CoV-2 Have Bacteriophage Behavior or Induce the Activity of Other Bacteriophages (Vaccines)
“In order to further support these findings, in the present work, cultures of bacteria from the human microbiome and SARS-CoV-2 were analyzed by electron and fluorescence microscopy. The images presented in this article, in association with the nitrogen (15N) isotope-labeled culture medium experiment, suggest that SARS-CoV-2 could also infect bacteria in the gut microbiota, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 could act as a bacteriophage.”
29 APR 2022: Lymphopenia in patients affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection is caused by margination of lymphocytes in large bowel (Euro Journal of Nuclear Med)
“These findings indicate that lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients is associated with large bowel inflammation supporting the hypothesis that CD4 + lymphocytes migrate to peripheral lymphoid tissues in the bowel.”
May 2022: Pediatric Acute Liver Failure Due to Type 2 Autoimmune Hepatitis Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Case Report (JPGM)
“We describe the case of a 3-year-old previously healthy female who developed acute liver failure secondary to type 2 autoimmune hepatitis preceded by mild infection with SARS-CoV-2.”
1 MAY 2022: Evidence for Aerosol Transfer of SARS-CoV2-specific Humoral Immunity (preprint)
“aerosol transfer of antibodies between immune and non-immune hosts”
2 MAY 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant is as Deadly as Previous Waves After Adjusting for Vaccinations, Demographics, and Comorbidities (nature under review)
“after adjusting for confounders including various demographics, Charlson comorbidity index scores, and vaccination status (and holding the healthcare utilization constant), we found that the risks of hospitalization and mortality were nearly identical between periods. Our analysis suggests that the intrinsic severity of the Omicron variant may be as severe as previous variants.”
9 MAY 2022: The Pathobiology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Case for Neuroglial Failure (Front Cellular Neuroscience)
“From this review we conclude that the multifaceted pathobiology of ME/CFS may be attributable in a unifying manner to neuroglial dysfunction. Because the two key features – post exertional malaise and decreased cerebral blood flow – are also recognized in a subset of patients with post-acute sequelae COVID, we suggest that our findings may also be pertinent to this entity.”
9 MAY 2022: Prevalence of symptoms, comorbidities, fibrin amyloid microclots and platelet pathology in individuals with Long COVID/ Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (preprint)
“Fibrin amyloid microclots that block capillaries and inhibit the transport of O2 to tissues, accompanied by platelet hyperactivation, provide a ready explanation for the symptoms of Long COVID/PASC.”
9 MAY 2022: COVID-19 Associated Hepatitis in Children (CAH-C) during the second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Central India: Is it a complication or transient phenomenon (medRxiv preprint)
“Among 475 children tested positive, 47 patients presented with hepatitis, 37 patients had features of CAH-C, having symptoms of hepatitis only, with un-elevated inflammatory markers and uneventful recovery following supportive treatment. Whereas remaining 10 MIS-C hepatitis had protracted illness, multiple system involvement, required admission to critical care, and had mortality of 30%.”
9 MAY 2022: SARS-CoV-2 infection induces inflammatory bone loss in golden Syrian hamsters (Nature Communications)
“Our findings suggest that pathological bone loss may be a neglected complication which warrants more extensive investigations during the long-term follow-up of COVID-19 patients. The benefits of potential prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against pathological bone loss should be further evaluated.”
10 MAY 2022: Persistent serum protein signatures define an inflammatory subset of long COVID (bioRxiv preprint)
11 MAY 2022: Impaired exercise capacity in post-COVID syndrome: the role of VWF-ADAMTS13 axis (blood advances)
“These findings suggest possible ongoing microvascular/endothelial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of PCS and highlight a potential role for antithrombotic therapy in the management of these patients.”
11 MAY 2022: Coronavirus ‘ghosts’ found lingering in the gut (nature news)
“…the virus might infiltrate and hide out in immune cells called macrophages, which can be found in a variety of the body’s tissues. “All of these studies support the possibility that long-term viral reservoirs contribute to long COVID, but researchers will need to do more work to conclusively show a link, says Mehandru.”
12 MAY 2022: High population burden of Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) is associated with the emergence of severe hepatitis of unknown etiology in children (Intl Journal of Infectious Diseases)
“Prior exposure to Omicron variant may be associated with an increased risk of severe hepatitis among children, indicating a critical need to conduct cofactor studies.”
13 MAY 2022: Severe acute hepatitis in children: investigate SARS-CoV-2 superantigens (Lancet)
“we suggest that children with acute hepatitis be investigated for SARS-CoV-2 persistence in stool, T-cell receptor skewing, and IFN-γ upregulation, because this could provide evidence of a SARS-CoV-2 superantigen mechanism in an adenovirus-41F-sensitised host. If evidence of superantigen-mediated immune activation is found, immunomodulatory therapies should be considered in children with severe acute hepatitis.”
14 MAY 2022: Elevated liver enzymes and bilirubin following SARS-CoV-2 infection in children under 10 (medRxiv preprint)
“Compared to children infected with other respiratory infections, children infected with COVID-19 infection were at significantly increased risk for elevated AST or ALT (hazard ratio or HR: 2.52, 95% confidence interval or CI: 2.03-3.12) and total bilirubin (HR: 3.35, 95% CI: 2.16-5.18). These results suggest acute and long-term hepatic sequelae of COVID-19 in pediatric patients. Further investigation is needed to clarify if post-COVID-19 related hepatic injury described in this study is related to the current increase in pediatric hepatitis cases of unknown origin.”
16 MAY 2022: An Artificial Intelligence-guided signature reveals the shared host immune response in MIS-C and Kawasaki disease (Nature Communications)
“Results show that KD and MIS-C are on the same continuum of the host immune response as COVID-19. Both the pediatric syndromes converge upon an IL15/IL15RA-centric cytokine storm, suggestive of shared proximal pathways of immunopathogenesis; however, they diverge in other laboratory parameters and cardiac phenotypes.”
17 MAY 2022: Amyloidogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein (Journal of American Chemical Society)
Med Xpress Press Release
“We have never seen such perfect, but scary, fibrils as these ones from the amyloid-producing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and pieces thereof. The fibrils starting from the full-sized spike protein branched out like limbs on a body. Amyloids don’t usually branch out like that. We believe that it is due to the characteristics of the spike protein,” says Per Hammarström, professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM) at Linköping University. … The researchers at LiU mixed amyloid-producing protein pieces from the spike protein together with these bodily substances in test tubes, and saw that the fibrin coagulate which was then produced could not be broken down in the usual way by plasmin. This newly discovered mechanism may lie behind the production of similar micro blood clots that have been observed in both serious and long-term COVID-19. Disturbed blood coagulation is also seen in many amyloid-related illnesses.”
17 MAY 2022: Acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children (BMJ Editorial)
20 MAY 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Infects Peripheral and Central Neurons of Mice Before Viremia, Facilitated by Neuropilin-1 (bioRxiv preprint)
“Our data show that SARS-CoV-2 rapidly invades and establishes productive infection in previously unassessed sites in the nervous system via direct invasion of neurons before viremia, which m
23 MAY 2022: SARS-CoV-2 ORF1abA1061S potentiate autoreactive T cell responses via epitope mimicry: an explanation to hepatitis of unknown cause (bioRxiv preprint)
“our preliminary results raised a possibility that infection by SARS-CoV-2 ORF1abVVVNASN variant might elicit an autoimmune T cell response via epitope mimicry and is associated with the outbreak of unknown hepatitis”
23 MAY 2022: A multisystem, cardio-renal investigation of post-COVID-19 illness (Nature Medicine)
“The illness trajectory of COVID-19 includes persisting cardio-renal inflammation, lung involvement, hemostatic pathway activation and impairments in physical and psychological function. One in seven patients died or were rehospitalized, and two in three patients had additional outpatient episodes of secondary care, considerably higher than controls. Preventive therapy for post-COVID-19 syndromes and longer-term studies of prognosis are warranted.”
26 MAY 2022: SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells associate with inflammation and reduced lung function in pulmonary post-acute sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 (PLOS Pathogens)
“Taken together, these findings demonstrate elevated frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in individuals with pulmonary PASC are associated with increased systemic inflammation and decreased lung function, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells contribute to lingering pulmonary symptoms.”
10 JUN 2022: Outbreak of hepatitis in children: clinical course of children with acute liver failure admitted to the intensive care unit (Intensive Care Medicine)
“histopathology studies on the explant liver and in a few who have had biopsies have not demonstrated evidence of adenovirus in hepatocytes, though all of them revealed hepatocyte necrosis and parenchymal collapse. The lack of adenovirus demonstration in hepatocytes, but severe liver injury leading to acute liver failure may be related to an aberrant immune response from the host’s immune system of liver…”
12 JUN 2022: Mild respiratory COVID can cause multi-lineage neural cell and myelin dysregulation (Cell)
“Following mild respiratory COVID in mice, persistently impaired hippocampal neurogenesis, decreased oligodendrocytes and myelin loss were evident together with elevated CSF cytokines/chemokines including CCL11. Systemic CCL11 administration specifically caused hippocampal microglial reactivity and impaired neurogenesis. Concordantly, humans with lasting cognitive symptoms post-COVID exhibit elevated CCL11 levels. … These findings illustrate similar neuropathophysiology after cancer therapy and respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection which may contribute to cognitive impairment following even mild COVID.”
13 JUN 2022: Neurotoxic amyloidogenic peptides in the proteome of SARS-COV2: potential implications for neurological symptoms in COVID-19 (Nature)
“The neurological effects of COVID-19 share similarities to neurodegenerative diseases in which the presence of cytotoxic aggregated amyloid protein or peptides is a common feature. Following the hypothesis that some neurological symptoms of COVID-19 may also follow an amyloid etiology we identified two peptides from the SARS-CoV-2 proteome that self-assemble into amyloid assemblies. Furthermore, these amyloids were shown to be highly toxic to neuronal cells. We suggest that cytotoxic aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may trigger neurological symptoms in COVID-19.”
15 JUN 2022: Effects of Previous Infection and Vaccination on Symptomatic Omicron Infections (NEJM)
“The analysis showed, as expected, that full mRNA vaccination plus a booster dose, atop natural immunity due to infection by an earlier variant, was associated with the strongest protection from Omicron infection. However, vaccine immunity against new infection appeared to wane rapidly, whereas people with a prior-variant infection were moderately protected from Omicron with little decline in protection even a year after their prior infection.”
Press Release: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-qatar-omicron-wave-decline-natural-immunity.html
17 JUN 2022: BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 escape antibodies elicited by Omicron infection (Nature)
“our results indicate that Omicron may evolve mutations to evade the humoral immunity elicited by BA.1 infection, suggesting that BA.1-derived vaccine boosters may not achieve broad-spectrum protection against new Omicron variants.”
22 JUN 2022: Evidence of recent Epstein-Barr virus reactivation in individuals experiencing Long COVID (medRxiv preprint)
“we observed that LC symptoms such as fatigue and neurocognitive dysfunction at a median of 4 months following initial diagnosis were associated with serological evidence of recent EBV reactivation (early antigen-D IgG positivity or nuclear antigen IgG levels >600 U/mL), but not with ongoing EBV viremia”
Reuters Coverage: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/epstein-barr-may-play-role-some-long-covid-coronavirus-can-impair-blood-sugar-2022-06-27/
1 JUL 2022: Evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in seronegative patients with long COVID (Lancet)
“Our study reveals evidence (detectable T cell mediated IL-2 release) of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in seronegative patients with Long COVID.”
13 JUL 2022: Emergence of immune escape at dominant SARS-CoV-2 killer T cell epitope (Cell)
“In summary, we demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 can readily alter its Spike protein via a single amino acid substitution so that it is not recognized by CD8 T cells targeting the most prevalent epitope in Spike restricted by the most common HLA-I across the population. While it is not possible to directly attribute the emergence and propagation of the Spike P272L SARS-CoV-2 variant in parts of the world where HLA A∗02:01 is frequently expressed to CD8 T cell-mediated selection pressure, specific focusing of immune protection on a single protein (e.g. SARS-CoV-2 Spike favored by all currently approved vaccines [Krammer, 2020]) is likely to enhance any tendency for escape at predominant T cell epitopes like YLQPRTFLL.”
“…it has been suggested that strong antibody responses but weak CD8 T cell responses could contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and severity”
25 JUL 2022: Coronavirus spike protein activated natural immune response, damaged heart muscle cells (American Heart Association Press Release)
“Our data show that the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 causes heart muscle damage.”
AUG 2022: Orbito-Frontal Cortex Hypometabolism in Children With Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID): A Preliminary Experience (The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)
“In conclusion, we provided evidence of orbitofrontal cortex hypometabolism in children with persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, highlighting the need to implement research and raising funds for children with long COVID.”
1 AUG 2022: Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Shedding in Exhaled Breath Aerosols (medRxiv preprint)
“Our results also show that fully vaccinated and boosted individuals, when infected, can shed infectious SARS-CoV-2 via exhaled breath aerosols. These findings provide additional evidence that inhalation of infectious aerosols is the dominant mode of transmission and emphasize the importance of ventilation, filtration, and air disinfection to mitigate the pandemic and protect vulnerable populations.”
2 AUG 2022: Heart disease after COVID: what the data say (Nature)
11 AUG 2022: Morphological, cellular, and molecular basis of brain infection in COVID-19 patients (PNAS Neuroscience)
“Our data support the model in which SARS-CoV-2 reaches the brain, infects astrocytes, and consequently, leads to neuronal death or dysfunction. These deregulated processes could contribute to the structural and functional alterations seen in the brains of COVID-19 patients.”
17 AUG 2022: Neurological and psychiatric risk trajectories after SARS-CoV-2 infection: an analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies (Lancet Psychiatry)
“In summary, post-COVID neurological and psychiatric outcomes followed different risk trajectories: the risk of cognitive deficit, dementia, psychotic disorder, and epilepsy or seizures remained increased at 2 years after a COVID-19 diagnosis, while the risks of other diagnoses (notably, mood and anxiety disorders) subsided early and showed no overall excess over the 2-year follow-up.”
24 AUG 2022: Autoimmune and autoinflammatory conditions after COVID-19 vaccination. New case reports and updated literature review (J Autoimmun)
“There is likely an association between COVID-19 vaccination and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Some ADs seem to be more common than others. The mechanisms of autoimmunity induction by COVID-19 vaccines and SARS-CoV-2 infection may be similar. Large, well-controlled studies are warranted to validate this relationship and assess additional variables such as genetic and environmental influences. Further detailed studies focusing on mechanisms, including molecular mimicry and bystander activation, will be essential to explain these rare events.”
(Columbia)
25 AUG 2022: Managing an evolving pandemic: Cryptic circulation of the Delta variant during the Omicron rise (Science of Total Environment)
“According to the developed model, it can be expected that the Omicron levels will decrease until eliminated, while Delta variant will maintain its cryptic circulation. If this comes to pass, the mentioned cryptic circulation may result in the reemergence of a Delta morbidity wave or in the possible generation of a new threatening variant.”
16 SEP 2022: Reevaluation of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection in anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibodies and mRNA-vaccine antisera using FcR- and ACE2-positive cells (Nature)
“some ADE of Omicron infection was observed in some sera. These results suggest the possible emergence of adverse effects caused by these Abs in addition to the therapeutic or preventive effect.”
30 SEP 2022: SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein S2 subunit modulates γ-secretase and enhances amyloid-β production in COVID-19 neuropathy (Nature Cell Discovery)
“The Spike protein could function as an immune switch to increase γ-secretase activity and Aβ production and contribute to neurological changes in COVID-19 patients.”
1 OCT 2022: A Case Report: Multifocal Necrotizing Encephalitis and Myocarditis after BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccination against COVID-19 (Vaccines)
“only spike protein but no nucleocapsid protein could be detected within the foci of inflammation in both the brain and the heart, particularly in the endothelial cells of small blood vessels. Since no nucleocapsid protein could be detected, the presence of spike protein must be ascribed to vaccination rather than to viral infection. The findings corroborate previous reports of encephalitis and myocarditis caused by gene-based COVID-19 vaccines.”
11 OCT 2022: Social communication skill attainment in babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic: a birth cohort study (BMJ Archive of Disease in Childhood)
“Parentally reported developmental outcomes in a birth cohort of babies born into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic may indicate some potential deficits in early life social communication. It must be noted that milestones are parentally reported and comparison is with a historical cohort with associated limitations. Further studies with standardised testing is required to validate these findings.”
25 NOV 2022: SARS-CoV-2 evolution, post-Omicron (virological.org)
“we hypothesise that these ‘complex’ recombinants, like the saltation variants, have emerged from chronic infections. In the case of XAY, XBA, XBC, and XAW, these likely arose from chronic infections where the individual was initially infected by Delta and subsequently superinfected with BA.2.”
Author Explains: https://twitter.com/PeacockFlu/status/1596492672553869314?s=20&t=m8bLmtspm88TO4XXynBiwQ
30 NOV 2022: Defective antifungal immunity in patients with COVID-19 (Frontiers in Immunology)
“Specific dysregulation of the immune system through functional exhaustion of Natural killer (NK) cells and T cells has been observed in COVID-19 through the expression of the exhaustion markers NK-G2A and PD-1. Reduced fungicidal activity of neutrophils from COVID-19 patients indicates that immune dysfunction/imbalance are important risk factors for invasive fungal disease (IFD). The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the at-risk population for IFD.”
30 NOV 2022: SARS-CoV-2 evolves increased infection elicited cell death and fusion in an immunosuppressed individual (medRxiv preprint)
“We assayed a virus isolated from early in the course of infection at day 6 post-diagnosis, at day 190 post-diagnosis, as well as at the intermediate timepoints. The day 6 isolate already evolved a considerable number of mutations, or alternatively, the infecting virus was mutated. Between day 6 and day 190 post-diagnosis, the infection evolved immune escape from neutralizing antibodies, consistent with what is observed in long-term SARS-CoV-2 infections in individuals with immunosuppression24. However, the ability of the virus to induce cell fusion and cell death upon infection also changed through the course of evolution. While the early viral isolate induced lower cell fusion and death compared to ancestral virus, induction of fusion and cell death increased with evolution”
22 DEC 2022: Skewed fate and hematopoiesis of CD34+ HSPCs in umbilical cord blood amid the COVID-19 pandemic (iScience)
“These results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination impair the functionalities and survivability of HSPCs in the UCB, which would make unprecedented concerns on the future of HSPC-based therapies.”
1 FEB 2023: Reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome After COVID-19 Vaccination in the United States (JAMA Infectious Disease)
“This study found disproportionate reporting and imbalances after Ad26.COV2.S vaccination, suggesting that Ad26.COV2.S vaccination was associated with increased risk for GBS. No associations between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and risk of GBS were observed.”
30 MAR 2023: Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 is characterized by diminished peripheral CD8+β7 integrin+ T cells and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA response (Nat Commun)
“our study indicates that PASC is defined by persisting immunological dysfunction as late as six months following SARS-CoV-2 infection, including alterations in mucosal immune parameters, redistribution of mucosal CD8+β7Integrin+ T cells and IgA, indicative of potential viral persistence and mucosal involvement in the etiopathology of PASC.”
Press Release: https://presse.inserm.fr/en/covid-long-la-persistance-du-sars-cov-2-dans-les-muqueuses-pourrait-etre-en-cause/66975/
17 APR 2023: Insights into new-onset autoimmune diseases after COVID-19 vaccination (Autoimmune Review)
“In this review, we provide evidence that vaccination induces autoimmunity and summarize possible mechanisms of action, such as molecular mimicry, activation by bystanders, and adjuvants. Our objective is not to refute the importance of vaccines, but to raise awareness about the potential risks of COVID-19 vaccination. In fact, we believe that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the possible risks and encourage people to get vaccinated.”
(China)
20 APR 2023: Immune Imprinting and Implications for COVID-19 (Vaccines)
17 MAY 2023: IgG4 Antibodies Induced by Repeated Vaccination May Generate Immune Tolerance to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein (Vaccines)
“emerging evidence suggests that the reported increase in IgG4 levels detected after repeated vaccination with the mRNA vaccines may not be a protective mechanism; rather, it constitutes an immune tolerance mechanism to the spike protein that could promote unopposed SARS-CoV2 infection and replication by suppressing natural antiviral responses. Increased IgG4 synthesis due to repeated mRNA vaccination with high antigen concentrations may also cause autoimmune diseases, and promote cancer growth and autoimmune myocarditis in susceptible individuals.”
18 MAY 2023: Long COVID is primarily a Spike protein Induced Thrombotic Vasculitis (preprint)
“Herein we describe our perspective that Long COVID is a continuation of acute COVID-19 pathology, whereby coagulopathy is the main driver of disease and can cause or exacerbate other pathologies common in Long COVID, such as mast cell activation syndrome and dysautonomia. Considering the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can independently induce fibrinaloid microclots, platelet activation, and endotheliitis, we predict that persistent spike protein will be a key mechanism driving the continued coagulopathy in Long COVID. We discuss several treatment targets to address the coagulopathy, and predict that (particularly early) treatment with combination anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs will bring significant relief to many patients, supported by a case study.”
JUN 2023: Long COVID: pathophysiological factors and abnormalities of coagulation (Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism)
“These mechanisms culminate in the long-term persistence of the disorder characterized by a thrombotic endothelialitis, endothelial inflammation, hyperactivated platelets, and fibrinaloid microclots. These abnormalities of blood vessels and coagulation affect every organ system and represent a unifying pathway for the various symptoms of Long COVID.”
28 JUN 2023: Identification of a molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases (medRxiv preprint)
“if some patients treated with molnupiravir do not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, there could be the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses.”
28 AUG 2023: SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induces endothelial inflammation via ACE2 independently of viral replication (Nature)
“In conclusion, our study describes ACE2 as a pivotal signalling protein in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-mediated activation of pro-inflammatory signalling and endothelial cell inflammation. We demonstrate that rSP1 induces endothelial inflammation via ACE2 through processes that are independent of ACE2 enzymatic activity and viral replication. Our findings define a novel role for ACE2 in SARS-CoV-2-associated endotheliitis, which may be important in cardiovascular complications associated with COVID-19.”
1 SEP 2023: SARS-CoV-2 Spike amyloid fibrils specifically and selectively accelerates amyloid fibril formation of human prion protein and the amyloid β peptide (bioRxiv preprint)
“Albeit purely in vitro, our data suggest that cross-seeding by Spike-amyloid fibrils can be implicated in the increasing number of reports of CJD, AD, and possibly other NDs in the wake of COVID-19.”
1 SEP 2023: Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in “Long COVID”: pathophysiology, heart rate variability, and inflammatory markers (Front Cardiovascular Med)
“Dysautonomia in patients with Long COVID is multifactorial, and many of the autonomic symptoms can be understood by vagal dysfunction; the parasympathetic and sympathetic interactions involved still need to be extensively studied. Understanding cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and the importance of association with inflammatory biomarkers in patients with Long COVID can contribute to more accurate diagnoses, better knowledge of the clinical presentation of the ANS pathway when reacting to an infectious disease, and better prognoses.”
25 SEP 2023: A Perspective on How Fibrinaloid Microclots and Platelet Pathology May be Applied in Clinical Investigations (Thieme Open Access)
Twitter Thread from Author: https://x.com/resiapretorius/status/1715306761979072950?s=20
27 SEP 2023: Duration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine persistence and factors associated with cardiac involvement in recently vaccinated patients (Nature NPJ Vaccines)
“Cardiac ventricles in which vaccine was detected had healing myocardial injury at the time of vaccination and had more myocardial macrophages than the cardiac ventricles in which vaccine was not detected. These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines routinely persist up to 30 days from vaccination and can be detected in the heart.”