Post-COVID sequelae effect in chronic fatigue syndrome: SARS-CoV-2 triggers latent adenovirus in the oral mucosaShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Frontiers in Medicine, E-ISSN 2296-858X, Vol. 10, article id 1208181Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The post-viral fatigue syndromes long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) have multiple, potentially overlapping, pathological processes. These include persisting reservoirs of virus, e.g., SARS-CoV-2 in long COVID patients tissues, immune dysregulation with or without reactivation of underlying pathogens, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6), as we recently described in ME/CFS, and possibly yet unidentified viruses. In the present study we tested saliva samples from two cohorts for IgG against human adenovirus (HAdV): patients with ME/CFS (n = 84) and healthy controls (n = 94), with either mild/asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection or no infection. A significantly elevated anti-HAdV IgG response after SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected exclusively in the patient cohort. Longitudinal/time analysis, before and after COVID-19, in the very same individuals confirmed HAdV IgG elevation after. In plasma there was no HAdV IgG elevation. We conclude that COVID-19 triggered reactivation of dormant HAdV in the oral mucosa of chronic fatigue patients indicating an exhausted dysfunctional antiviral immune response in ME/CFS, allowing reactivation of adenovirus upon stress encounter such as COVID-19. These novel findings should be considered in clinical practice for identification of patients that may benefit from therapy that targets HAdV as well.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA , 2023. Vol. 10, article id 1208181
Keywords [en]
post-COVID condition; SARS-CoV-2; myalgic encephalomyelitis; chronic fatigue syndrome; ME; CFS; human adenovirus (HAdV); saliva antibodies; oral mucosa immune response
National Category
Infectious Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-196748DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1208181ISI: 001025525000001PubMedID: 37457558OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-196748DiVA, id: diva2:1790287
2023-08-222023-08-222024-01-10