Rogue antibodies could contribute to some of the symptoms of long COVID such as a heightened response to pain and decreased pain tolerance as they begin attacking people’s own nerves. Autoantibodies were previously thought to be possible causes of long COVID, a chronic condition that can cause symptoms and conditions to last over weeks after the initial COVID-19 infection, by scientists and these studies confirm their hypothesis. Autoantibodies are antibodies made by a person’s own immune system that have malfunctioned and target their own cells rather than viruses and bacteria. Scientists Hung-Jen Chen’s team and Akiko Iwasaki’s group found that mice injected with antibodies from patients with long COVID-19 antibodies could tolerate standing on a hot plate for a shorter time compared to the mice that received antibodies from healthy people. However, there is no firm evidence that the hypersensitivity to pain resulted only from the long Covid as those mice received antibodies from patients with chronic pain. Overall, the increased sensitivity is predicted to be due to the rogue antibodies attacking people’s own tissues which is enough to start the various symptoms. These results could give comfort to those who have long COVID as there is now an explanation as to their symptoms and can understand the causes of their pains. Nevertheless, symptoms for COVID are immensely high with there being more than 200 documented symptoms. Scientists believe that autoantibodies could be a large cause of these symptoms as there is an increased amount of autoantibodies in the blood during a SARS-CoV-2 infection and the autoantibodies are shown to linger in people with long COVID even after the initial illness has passed. Nonetheless, if the cause of long COVID can be confirmed to be due to the autoantibodies then doctors could try and reduce the amount circulating in the blood which could really benefit a number of patients, especially those who have long COVID.
As someone who has gotten covid before I wondered what the longer implications could be. Additionally, I have family friends who still had bad symptoms months after initially contracting COVID-19 and so it fueled my interest in learning more about long COVID. I am happy to learn that there is finally research that can provide a greater explanation for some of the conditions of COVID-19 and can support a possible solution. Moreover, while the severity of COVID-19 has decreased it is not completely gone and so it is important to remain educated and safe during this time. If you have ever had COVID do you think you ever experienced an enhanced sensitivity to pain? If so, do you think you have any symptoms of long COVID? Lastly, antibodies are very interconnected to the immunology topic in AP Biology as they generally help fight against viruses and bacteria. Normally, when a person gets infected with a virus the innate immunity immediately kicks in before the adaptive immune response activates. The adaptive immune response subsequently triggers the humoral response, and B-plasma cells secrete antibodies that bind and neutralize the pathogen so that macrophages can engulf and destroy the antibody-coated pathogen. However, the antibodies involved in the long-term symptoms of COVID seem to be malfunctioning antibodies which are in turn attacking the healthy cells of the person.
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