Rogatzki Matthew J, Szeghy Rachel E, Stute Nina L, Province Valesha M, Augenreich Marc A, Stickford Jonathon L, Stickford Abigail S L, Hanson Erik D, Ratchford Stephen M
Department of Public Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA.
School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA.
Neurotrauma Rep. 2023 May 15;4(1):330-341. doi: 10.1089/neur.2023.0014. eCollection 2023.
Elevated levels of brain injury biomarkers have been found primarily in middle-aged or older persons experiencing moderate-to-severe COVID-19 symptoms. However, there is little research in young adults, and there is concern that COVID-19 causes brain injury even in the absence of moderate-to-severe symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate whether neurofilament light (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), tau, or ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (UCHL1) are elevated in the plasma of young adults with mild COVID-19 symptoms. Twelve participants diagnosed with COVID-19 had plasma collected 1, 2, 3, and 4 months after diagnosis to determine whether NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations increased over time or whether plasma concentrations were elevated compared with COVID-19-naïve participants. We also compared plasma NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations between sexes. Our results showed no difference between NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations in COVID-19-naïve participants and COVID-19-positive participants at any of the four time points ( = 0.771). Within the COVID-19-positive participants, UCHL1 levels were higher at month 3 after diagnosis compared to month 1 or month 2 ( = 0.027). Between sexes, females were found to have higher UCHL1 ( = 0.003) and NfL ( = 0.037) plasma concentrations compared to males, whereas males had higher plasma tau concentrations than females ( = 0.024). Based on our data, it appears that mild COVID-19 in young adults does not increase plasma NfL, GFAP, tau, or UCHL1.
主要在出现中重度新冠病毒病（COVID-19）症状的中年或老年人中发现脑损伤生物标志物水平升高。然而，针对年轻人的研究很少，并且有人担心即使没有中重度症状，COVID-19也会导致脑损伤。因此，我们研究的目的是调查轻度COVID-19症状的年轻成年人血浆中神经丝轻链（NfL）、胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）、tau蛋白或泛素羧基末端水解酶L1（UCHL1）是否升高。12名被诊断为COVID-19的参与者在诊断后1、2、3和4个月采集血浆，以确定NfL、GFAP、tau蛋白和UCHL1浓度是否随时间增加，或者与未感染COVID-19的参与者相比血浆浓度是否升高。我们还比较了不同性别的血浆NfL、GFAP、tau蛋白和UCHL1浓度。我们的结果显示，在四个时间点中的任何一个时间点，未感染COVID-19的参与者和COVID-19阳性参与者的NfL、GFAP、tau蛋白和UCHL1浓度均无差异（P = 0.771）。在COVID-19阳性参与者中，与诊断后第1个月或第2个月相比，诊断后第3个月的UCHL1水平更高（P = 0.027）。在不同性别之间，发现女性的UCHL1（P = 0.003）和NfL（P = 0.037）血浆浓度高于男性，而男性的血浆tau蛋白浓度高于女性（P = 0.024）。根据我们的数据，似乎年轻成年人的轻度COVID-19不会增加血浆NfL、GFAP、tau蛋白或UCHL1。
