Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Front Immunol. 2024 Aug 9;15:1329162. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1329162. eCollection 2024.
Most healthy individuals recover from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas a remarkable number continues to suffer from unexplained symptoms, known as Long COVID or post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS). It is therefore imperative that methods for preventing and treating the onset of PASC be investigated with the utmost urgency.
A mathematical model of the immune response to vaccination and viral infection with SARS-CoV-2, incorporating immune memory cells, was developed.
Similar to our previous model, persistent infection was observed by the residual virus in the host, implying the possibility of chronic inflammation and delayed recovery from tissue injury. Pre-infectious vaccination and antiviral medication administered during onset can reduce the acute viral load; however, they show no beneficial effects in preventing persistent infection. Therefore, the impact of these treatments on the PASC, which has been clinically observed, is mainly attributed to their role in preventing severe tissue damage caused by acute viral infections. For PASC patients with persistent infection, vaccination was observed to cause an immediate rapid increase in viral load, followed by a temporary decrease over approximately one year. The former was effectively suppressed by the coadministration of antiviral medications, indicating that this combination is a promising treatment for PASC.
大多数健康个体可从急性 SARS-CoV-2 感染中康复，但仍有相当数量的患者持续出现不明原因的症状，即所谓的长新冠或急性新冠后综合征（PACS）。因此，迫切需要研究预防和治疗 PACS 发病的方法。
我们开发了一个包含免疫记忆细胞的 SARS-CoV-2 疫苗接种和病毒感染免疫反应的数学模型。
与我们之前的模型类似，宿主中残留的病毒观察到持续感染，这意味着存在慢性炎症和组织损伤延迟恢复的可能性。发病前接种疫苗和给予抗病毒药物可降低急性病毒载量；然而，它们对预防持续性感染没有有益影响。因此，这些治疗方法对临床上观察到的 PASC 的影响主要归因于它们在预防急性病毒感染引起的严重组织损伤方面的作用。对于持续性感染的 PASC 患者，观察到接种疫苗会导致病毒载量立即快速增加，随后在大约一年的时间内暂时下降。联合使用抗病毒药物可有效抑制前者，表明这种联合治疗是治疗 PACS 的一种有前途的方法。
