Wei Yulin, Gu Hongyan, Ma Jun, Mao Xiaojuan, Wang Bing, Wu Weiyan, Yu Shiming, Wang Jinyuan, Zhao Huan, He Yanbin
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Affiliated Nantong Hospital of Shanghai University (The Sixth People's Hospital of Nantong), Nantong, Jiangsu, China.
Key Laboratory of Digital Technology in Medical Diagnostics of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China.
Front Microbiol. 2024 Dec 27;15:1470193. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1470193. eCollection 2024.
Long COVID is an often-debilitating condition with severe, multisystem symptoms that can persist for weeks or months and increase the risk of various diseases. Currently, there is a lack of diagnostic tools for Long COVID in clinical practice. Therefore, this study utilizes plasma proteomics and metabolomics technologies to understand the molecular profile and pathophysiological mechanisms of Long COVID, providing clinical evidence for the development of potential biomarkers. This study included three age- and gender-matched cohorts: healthy controls ( = 18), COVID-19 recovered patients ( = 17), and Long COVID patients ( = 15). The proteomics results revealed significant differences in proteins between Long COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 recovered patients, with dysregulation mainly focused on pathways such as coagulation, platelets, complement cascade reactions, GPCR cell signal transduction, and substance transport, which can participate in regulating immune responses, inflammation, and tissue vascular repair. Metabolomics results showed that Long COVID patients and COVID-19 recovered patients have similar metabolic disorders, mainly involving dysregulation in lipid metabolites and fatty acid metabolism, such as glycerophospholipids, sphingolipid metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism processes. In summary, our study results indicate significant protein dysregulation and metabolic abnormalities in the plasma of Long COVID patients, leading to coagulation dysfunction, impaired energy metabolism, and chronic immune dysregulation, which are more pronounced than in COVID-19 recovered patients.
长期新冠是一种通常使人虚弱的病症，伴有严重的多系统症状，这些症状可持续数周或数月，并增加患各种疾病的风险。目前，临床实践中缺乏针对长期新冠的诊断工具。因此，本研究利用血浆蛋白质组学和代谢组学技术来了解长期新冠的分子特征和病理生理机制，为潜在生物标志物的开发提供临床证据。本研究纳入了三个年龄和性别匹配的队列：健康对照组（n = 18）、新冠康复患者（n = 17）和长期新冠患者（n = 15）。蛋白质组学结果显示，长期新冠患者与新冠康复患者之间的蛋白质存在显著差异，失调主要集中在凝血、血小板、补体级联反应、GPCR细胞信号转导和物质转运等途径，这些途径可参与调节免疫反应、炎症和组织血管修复。代谢组学结果表明，长期新冠患者和新冠康复患者存在相似的代谢紊乱，主要涉及脂质代谢物和脂肪酸代谢失调，如甘油磷脂、鞘脂代谢和花生四烯酸代谢过程。总之，我们的研究结果表明，长期新冠患者血浆中存在显著的蛋白质失调和代谢异常，导致凝血功能障碍、能量代谢受损和慢性免疫失调，且这些情况比新冠康复患者更为明显。
