Preprint Transfer of IgG from Long COVID patients induces symptomology in mice, 2024, Vidarsson+

[butter.]

Have previously measured NFL in ME/CFS patient serum vs controls. Found no difference. Didn't measure GFAP though.

I have measured all of them and GFAP in my own samples (very severe ME), all negative, but again, I did not expect them to be elevated, as I think we deal with something more akin to past 'acute injury' as opposed to 'neurodegeneration'. I think 'time of sampling' is paramount.

PS: If LC mouse models are somewhat informative about ME/CFS we would not expect to see Nfl but GFAP to be elevated.

 

[Denise]

I haven't had a chance to read the preprint yet so apologies if my question is answered in it.
Did they by chance monitor the mice to see if their LC resolved over time?

 

[Paraprosdokian]

I haven't had a chance to read the preprint yet so apologies if my question is answered in it.
Did they by chance monitor the mice to see if their LC resolved over time?

They monitored the mice for 12 weeks (iirc) and stopped after that. The mice had LC symptoms over that whole period, but they did seem to improve over that period.

 

[Denise]

They monitored the mice for 12 weeks (iirc) and stopped after that. The mice had LC symptoms over that whole period, but they did seem to improve over that period.

Thank you very much.

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Commentary in Nature News —

Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, is more sceptical. “Things like long COVID are really, really hard to reiterate in animal models,” he says, and it is unclear how well the symptoms observed in mice really reflect what’s going on in humans. “We’ve invested almost zero in building up those models,” he says, owing to a lack of government interest and “policymaker fatigue” in funding long COVID research. So even “if this study catalyses debate about the vacuum of small-animal models that are really holding back the field, I think it’s helpful”, he adds.