Preprint Long-term serum spike protein persistence but no correlation with post-COVID syndrome, 2024, Fehrer, Scheibenbogen+

Long-term serum spike protein persistence but no correlation with post-COVID syndrome
Annick Fehrer; Franziska Sotzny; Friederike Hoheisel; Elisa Stein; Laura Kim; Claudia Kedor; Helma Freitag; Cornelia Heindrich; Sandra Bauer; Rebekka Rust; Martina Seifert; Patricia Grabowski; Nina Babel; Carmen Scheibenbogen; Kirsten Wittke

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), currently an estimated 3 -6 % of people suffer from post-COVID condition or syndrome (PCS). A subset meets diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Several studies have reported persistence of SARS-CoV-2 proteins or RNA in serum or tissues of both recovered individuals and PCS patients. In this exploratory study, we investigated whether serum spike protein is associated with PCS and whether it correlates with symptom severity and laboratory biomarkers.

We analyzed serum spike protein levels in 121 PCS patients following mild-to-moderate COVID 19, 72 of whom met diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS (post-COVID ME/CFS, pcMECFS). Pre-pandemic seronegative healthy controls (ppHC, n = 32) and post-COVID recovered healthy controls (pcHC, n = 37) after SARS-CoV-2 infection were also included in the study.

We found persistent serum SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in a subset of pcHC (11 %), PCS non-ME/CFS patients (2 %), and pcMECFS patients (14 %). There was no significant association with disease severity, symptoms, or laboratory markers. The spike protein concentration was independent of the time since last spike exposure (infection or vaccination). In five spike-positive out of a total of 22 patients who underwent immunoglobulin depletion via immunoadsorption (IA), spike protein was reduced or completely removed after treatment, indicating binding to immunoglobulins.

In summary, our study identified serum spike protein in a subset of patients after SARS-CoV-2 infection without evidence for a role in the pathogenesis of PCS.


Link | PDF (Preprint: MedRxiv) [Open Access]

 

Interesting that they mention no relationship between spike protein concentration to time since last exposure. Could of course be very difficult to quantify as the correct description is likely "time since last known exposure", but I do think it contradicts some other results previously seen.

 

This paper might be important by making the viral persistence hypothesis more difficult to support. If the authors are right, then some people have remnants of the spike protein but it has little to no influence on the disease.

 

Viral persistence is probably not very significant in circulating blood. Lots of other viruses are for life, can be found in organs and some cells, how many of them are found circulating in the blood? Even their proteins?

It limits the potential for easy identification, but I don't think it means much in terms of viral persistence.

 

I think the crucial point may be that it is precisely such circumstantial evidence that lead people down the viral persistence route in the first place and thus far none of this evidence has stood the test of time (Simoa, Paxlovid etc were all the initial motivators and subsequent studies have not yielded any meaningful results).

That doesn't mean it can't be viral persistence but perhaps instead of continuously going down the same path, initially motivated by evidence that has since been found to be noise, one ought to asks oneself is there any evidence left that makes following this path meaningful and especially what one can learn from all of the past mistakes where evidence for viral persistence was presumably based on qualitatively bad research.