Inflammation is likely culprit behind long COVID, study suggests

SEATTLE (KOMO) — If you've had COVID-19 within the past three years, you may have heard of the term long COVID.

Those are the new or ongoing health problems that many people experience after being infected with the virus.

Some new research led by UW Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care Systemhas found inflammation is the likely culprit of long COVID symptoms like foggy brain and vanishing memory.

Researchers used mice to study the S protein.

The S1 protein is what the virus uses to attach to other cells and inject its material inside a cell, said Dr. Bill Banks, Professor of Medicine for UW Medicine's Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. Think of it sort of like a docking station at the International Space Station, he said.

Researchers found the S1 protein, which is attached to all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, readily passed through the blood-brain barrier and caused inflammation that can spur problems with learning and memory. The protein can be blocked from the brain by targeted antibodies, researchers also found.

"Reinforces the idea that a great way to fight long COVID is to get vaccinated. To prevent it if you get it you’re probably more protected by it, if you do get it," Banks told KOMO News.

The idea is to understand how a lung disease can transform and cause a brain disease, Banks said. That could give us more insight into other brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

"Inflammation is a good and bad thing. If you have the right amount to protect the body, it’s good. But it’s a little bit like a forest fire. If it goes from a controlled burn to a forest fire, it’s not good and inflammation is hard to control once you get it started," Banks said.

Banks now hopes other labs will want to use his team's models to try to replicate what they found, he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you're more likely to develop long COVID if you experienced a more severe illness that required a hospital stay or time in an intensive care unit, you had underlying health issues before getting COVID-19, or you haven't been vaccinated.