BMC medicine · 2025
VEGFA sex-specific signature is associated to long COVID symptom persistence.
СтатьяНазвание и аннотация: Перевод пока не подготовлен
Обработка статьи · этапы, ошибки и управление
Загрузка состояния…
Ошибки и ограничения
История · было → стало
Состояние обновляется каждые 5 секунд, пока блок открыт. Процент показывается только там, где известен объём работы. Пауза останавливает продолжение этапа; текущий запрос к источнику может завершиться.
Farré Xavier, Blay Natalia, Iraola-Guzmán Susana, Fernández-Jiménez Francisco, Alzate-Piñol Sayoa, Llucià-Carol Laia, Espinosa Ana, Castaño-Vinyals Gemma, Dobaño Carlota, Moncunill Gemma, Karachaliou Marianna, Garcia-Aymerich Judith, Kogevinas Manolis, Barceló Carles, Cadenas Israel, de Cid Rafael
Аннотация
BACKGROUND: Long COVID involves persistent symptoms after COVID-19 recovery, affecting multiple organ systems for months or years. Risk factors include female sex, prior chronic conditions, severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, reinfections, and lack of vaccination. As a major public health concern, ongoing research continues to investigate its causes, mechanisms, and long-term effects.
METHODS: Proteomic expression analysis of 171 individuals, in two time points, with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, including 133 long COVID patients from the deeply characterized COVICAT cohort, assessed 1395 protein biomarkers using Olink® technology. Statistical analyses with linear mixed models examined protein expression changes, long COVID status, and sex-specific differences. Functional analysis included gene set enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction networks.
RESULTS: Findings revealed VEGFA overexpression in long COVID patients (effect size 0.322, SE = 0.098, p = 0.0013), along with sex-specific expression patterns and the influence of sex-hormonal status in females, with significant overexpression of circulating VEGFA levels specifically in postmenopausal women (Mann-Whitney U test p value = 8.55 × 10-3). Network analysis identified 109 nodes and 274 edges, with VEGFA ranking highest in centrality. Dysregulated chemokine signaling, complement activation, and viral reactivation were also confirmed, consistent with prior studies.
CONCLUSIONS: Using high-throughput proteomic profiling in a population-based cohort, we observed that vascular dysfunction, particularly involving VEGFA, is a key feature of long COVID, especially in milder cases, with significant overexpression of VEGFA in postmenopausal women. Sex-specific proteomic patterns suggest distinct recovery mechanisms, highlighting the need to consider sex, vascular health, and disease severity in the pathogenesis and management of long COVID.
METHODS: Proteomic expression analysis of 171 individuals, in two time points, with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, including 133 long COVID patients from the deeply characterized COVICAT cohort, assessed 1395 protein biomarkers using Olink® technology. Statistical analyses with linear mixed models examined protein expression changes, long COVID status, and sex-specific differences. Functional analysis included gene set enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction networks.
RESULTS: Findings revealed VEGFA overexpression in long COVID patients (effect size 0.322, SE = 0.098, p = 0.0013), along with sex-specific expression patterns and the influence of sex-hormonal status in females, with significant overexpression of circulating VEGFA levels specifically in postmenopausal women (Mann-Whitney U test p value = 8.55 × 10-3). Network analysis identified 109 nodes and 274 edges, with VEGFA ranking highest in centrality. Dysregulated chemokine signaling, complement activation, and viral reactivation were also confirmed, consistent with prior studies.
CONCLUSIONS: Using high-throughput proteomic profiling in a population-based cohort, we observed that vascular dysfunction, particularly involving VEGFA, is a key feature of long COVID, especially in milder cases, with significant overexpression of VEGFA in postmenopausal women. Sex-specific proteomic patterns suggest distinct recovery mechanisms, highlighting the need to consider sex, vascular health, and disease severity in the pathogenesis and management of long COVID.