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Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID

The World Health Organization has defined long COVID-19 (LC) as a condition that occurs in individuals with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who exhibit persistent symptoms after its acute phase that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Since we had prev...

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Autores principales: Goh, Denise, Lim, Jeffrey Chun Tatt, Fernaíndez, Sonia Bilbao, Joseph, Craig Ryan, Edwards, Sara Gil, Neo, Zhen Wei, Lee, Justina Nadia, Caballero, Sílvia Guerrero, Lau, Mai Chan, Yeong, Joe Poh Sheng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483160/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36131932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.939989
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author Goh, Denise
Lim, Jeffrey Chun Tatt
Fernaíndez, Sonia Bilbao
Joseph, Craig Ryan
Edwards, Sara Gil
Neo, Zhen Wei
Lee, Justina Nadia
Caballero, Sílvia Guerrero
Lau, Mai Chan
Yeong, Joe Poh Sheng
author_facet Goh, Denise
Lim, Jeffrey Chun Tatt
Fernaíndez, Sonia Bilbao
Joseph, Craig Ryan
Edwards, Sara Gil
Neo, Zhen Wei
Lee, Justina Nadia
Caballero, Sílvia Guerrero
Lau, Mai Chan
Yeong, Joe Poh Sheng
author_sort Goh, Denise
collection PubMed
description The World Health Organization has defined long COVID-19 (LC) as a condition that occurs in individuals with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who exhibit persistent symptoms after its acute phase that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Since we had previously reported residual viral antigens in tissues of convalescent patients, we aimed to assess the presence of such antigens in long COVID tissues. Here, we established the presence of the residual virus in the appendix, skin, and breast tissues of 2 patients who exhibited LC symptoms 163 and 426 days after symptom onset. With multiplex immunohistochemistry, we detected viral nucleocapsid protein in all three tissues. The nucleocapsid protein was further observed to colocalize with macrophage marker CD68, suggesting that immune cells were direct targets of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, using RNAscope, the presence of viral RNA was also detected. Our positive finding in the breast tissue is corroborated by the recent reports of immunocompromised patients experiencing LC symptoms and persistent viral replication. Overall, our findings and emerging LC studies raise the possibility that the gastrointestinal tract may function as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2.
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spelling pubmed-94831602022-09-20 Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID Goh, Denise Lim, Jeffrey Chun Tatt Fernaíndez, Sonia Bilbao Joseph, Craig Ryan Edwards, Sara Gil Neo, Zhen Wei Lee, Justina Nadia Caballero, Sílvia Guerrero Lau, Mai Chan Yeong, Joe Poh Sheng Front Immunol Immunology The World Health Organization has defined long COVID-19 (LC) as a condition that occurs in individuals with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who exhibit persistent symptoms after its acute phase that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Since we had previously reported residual viral antigens in tissues of convalescent patients, we aimed to assess the presence of such antigens in long COVID tissues. Here, we established the presence of the residual virus in the appendix, skin, and breast tissues of 2 patients who exhibited LC symptoms 163 and 426 days after symptom onset. With multiplex immunohistochemistry, we detected viral nucleocapsid protein in all three tissues. The nucleocapsid protein was further observed to colocalize with macrophage marker CD68, suggesting that immune cells were direct targets of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, using RNAscope, the presence of viral RNA was also detected. Our positive finding in the breast tissue is corroborated by the recent reports of immunocompromised patients experiencing LC symptoms and persistent viral replication. Overall, our findings and emerging LC studies raise the possibility that the gastrointestinal tract may function as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9483160/ /pubmed/36131932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.939989 Text en Copyright © 2022 Goh, Lim, Fernaíndez, Joseph, Edwards, Neo, Lee, Caballero, Lau and Yeong https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Goh, Denise
Lim, Jeffrey Chun Tatt
Fernaíndez, Sonia Bilbao
Joseph, Craig Ryan
Edwards, Sara Gil
Neo, Zhen Wei
Lee, Justina Nadia
Caballero, Sílvia Guerrero
Lau, Mai Chan
Yeong, Joe Poh Sheng
Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title_full Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title_fullStr Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title_full_unstemmed Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title_short Case report: Persistence of residual antigen and RNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long COVID
title_sort case report: persistence of residual antigen and rna of the sars-cov-2 virus in tissues of two patients with long covid
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483160/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36131932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.939989
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