It could be a massive breakthrough for people who can't shake COVID-19.
Scientists at Lawson Health Research Institute may have taken the first steps in figuring out some key info about "Long COVID."
They've found that patients with what they call 'post-COVID-19 condition', have unique biomarkers in their blood. The next step, they say, is developing a first of its kind blood test that could be used to diagnose long COVID.
That could eventually be used to find a therapy for the illness.
Long COVID occurs when people have fatigue, cognitive issues, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal issues after having COVID-19. In some cases, Long COVID symptoms don't being until as long as a year after a COVID-19 diagnosis.
“It’s estimated that 30 to 40 per cent of patients with COVID-19 will develop long COVID,” says Dr. Douglas Fraser, who is a Lawson Scientist and Critical Care Physician at London Health Sciences Centre. “Physicians currently rely on symptoms alone to diagnose the condition, but our research offers a unique profile of blood biomarkers that could be used in a clinical test.”
The researchers studied 140 blood samples from participants at London hospitals to come up with their findings, which were published this week in Molecular Medicine.
“We chose to study blood vessels that link all the body systems together to look for changes after an acute infection,” Fraser said in a news release issued Thursday.
According to the researchers, blood vessels of people with Long COVID changed rapidly after they got COVID-19. They also found that patients with long COVID had 14 elevated blood biomarkers associate with blood vessels and two of the biomarkers could be used to diagnose Long COVID with 96% accuracy.
“Long COVID is a relatively new condition and we have much to learn about it,” said Dr. Michael Nicholson, Associate Scientist at Lawson, Respirologist at St. Joseph’s and Associate Professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. “This research advances our understanding of long COVID with the potential to improve diagnosis and patient care.”
Researchers say these biomarkers may not just help diagnose a disease, they may also provide a path to discovering potential treatments, which is also a focus on the scientists.
“With a point-of-care diagnostic test, we could confidently diagnose long COVID and eventually develop targeted therapeutics against these blood vessel changes that we have discovered,” says Dr. Fraser. “The ultimate goal is to improve patient outcomes following a long COVID diagnosis.”
Dr. Fraser will appear on The Craig Needles Podcast to discuss the findings next week.