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Long COVID

Abnormal complement activation is a sign of long COVID

Nature Cardiovascular Research volume 3, page 95 (2024)Cite this article

It is estimated that 10–20% of individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 do not fully recover from acute COVID-19 and present persistent symptoms or develop new symptoms months after the initial infection. This condition is referred to as long COVID and has many different manifestations, the most common being fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction, and the etiology remains unknown, although possible causes include excessive inflammation and tissue damage.

Recently, Cervia-Hasler et al. have reported the results of a multicenter longitudinal study aimed at identifying biomarkers for long COVID by serum proteomic analyses and clinical phenotyping. The authors analyzed samples from 39 healthy controls and 113 individuals with COVID-19 and followed them for up to 1 year. Of the 113 individuals with COVID-19, 65 recovered fully, 40 presented systemic symptoms at 6 months, and 22 had symptoms at the 12-month follow-up. Serum was collected at the time of diagnosis and the 6-month follow-up, enabling comparison of the serum proteomic profiling of individuals with long COVID at 6 months with individuals that did not develop long COVID, both at the acute stages of the disease and at the 6-month follow-up, excluding potential confounders linked to the severity of the acute disease.

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  1. Nature Cardiovascular Research https://www.nature.com/natcardiovascres/

    Elvira Forte

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  1. Elvira Forte
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Correspondence to Elvira Forte.

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Forte, E. Abnormal complement activation is a sign of long COVID. Nat Cardiovasc Res 3, 95 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-024-00434-y

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