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Clinical improvement of Long-COVID is associated with reduction in autoantibodies, lipids, and inflammation following (...), 2023, Achleitner et al

Discussion in 'Long Covid research' started by Wyva, May 2, 2023.

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  1. Wyva

    Wyva Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    1,398
    Location:
    Budapest, Hungary
    Full title:
    Clinical improvement of Long-COVID is associated with reduction in autoantibodies, lipids, and inflammation following therapeutic apheresis

    Abstract

    In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an unprecedented wave of post-infectious complications. Most prominently, millions of patients with Long-Covid complain about chronic fatigue and severe post-exertional malaise. Therapeutic apheresis has been suggested as an efficient treatment option for alleviating and mitigating symptoms in this desperate group of patients. However, little is known about the mechanisms and biomarkers correlating with treatment outcomes.

    Here, we have analyzed in different cohorts of Long-Covid patients specific biomarkers before and after therapeutic apheresis. In patients that reported a significant improvement following two cycles of therapeutic apheresis, there was a significant reduction in neurotransmitter autoantibodies, lipids, and inflammatory markers. Furthermore, we observed a 70% reduction in fibrinogen, and following apheresis, erythrocyte rouleaux formation and fibrin fibers largely disappeared as demonstrated by dark field microscopy.

    This is the first study demonstrating a pattern of specific biomarkers with clinical symptoms in this patient group. It may therefore form the basis for a more objective monitoring and a clinical score for the treatment of Long-Covid and other postinfectious syndromes.

    Open access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02084-1
     
    Wyva, May 2, 2023
    #1
    Michelle, Sean, Dolphin and 6 others like this.
  2. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

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    27,044
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    How long does "immediate need" work as an excuse for not producing robust evidence? A year? two years? five years?


    Some of the results they report of 'before' and 'after' do look interesting. But the paper is inconsistent in explaining that these 27 patients were selected specifically because they reported feeling much better after the treatment. They don't tell us how many people in total were treated in the sample that these patients were taken from.

    There's also clearly not a state of equipoise in the researchers; there's a major conflict of interest.

    It really doesn't. We don't know if the aphaeresis did something, or the heparin that was administered at the same time, or if this cherry-picked sample just got better over time. We don't know if some of the things that were filtered out (and therefore unsurprisingly showed decreases after treatment) have any relationship to symptoms.
     
    Hutan, May 2, 2023
    #2
    Grigor, Andy, Trish and 7 others like this.
  3. dave30th

    dave30th Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    2,254
    This is a Nature journal. It sure is strange that they allow a declarative statement of causality in a study of 27 people with no comparisons n group.
     
    dave30th, May 3, 2023
    #3
    Sean, Grigor, Trish and 4 others like this.

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