Autoantibody landscapes in neurological Long COVID and post-COVID cognitive impairment show heterogeneity without a shared disease signature.
| Title: | Autoantibody landscapes in neurological Long COVID and post-COVID cognitive impairment show heterogeneity without a shared disease signature. |
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| Authors: | Chakravarty D; Dandekar R; Lashkari VD; Tilton I; McAlpine L; Chiarella J; Nelson A; Ngo T; Chen P; Wang G; Saxena A; Castillo-Rojas B; Zorn K; Tribble DR; Burgess TH; Rubin LH; Richard SA; Agan BK; Pollett SD; Farhadian S; Spudich S; Pleasure SJ; Wilson MR |
| Source: | MedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences [medRxiv] 2026 Mar 22. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 22. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article; Preprint |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101767986 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet NLM ISO Abbreviation: medRxiv Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE |
| Abstract: | Background: Neurological Long COVID (n-LC) includes persistent cognitive and autonomic symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Prior studies of post-COVID conditions have described diverse humoral autoreactivity, but findings are heterogeneous, and it remains unclear whether n-LC is associated with a consistent CNS-directed humoral signature.; Methods: We performed a cross-cohort case-control analysis to detect autoantibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum from n-LC participants. In the Yale COVID Mind Study cohort, CSF from n-LC participants and from pre-pandemic and post-COVID asymptomatic controls was assessed by mouse brain immunofluorescence and proteome-wide phage immunoprecipitation sequencing (PhIP-Seq), with candidate reactivities evaluated by orthogonal assays and supervised modeling. In the Epidemiology, Immunology, and Clinical Characteristics of Emerging Infectious Diseases with Pandemic Potential (IDCRP EPICC) cohort, post-COVID sera collected prior to iPhone- or iPad-based cognitive screening were profiled by PhIP-Seq and compared between participants with and without cognitive impairment.; Results: CSF immunoreactivity on mouse brain tissue was observed in both n-LC and controls, with similar overall frequencies, although n-LC participants more often showed nuclear-predominant staining patterns. PhIP-Seq identified sparse, largely patient-specific peptide reactivities to nuclear and neuronal proteins in CSF and serum. Supervised models provided limited discrimination between cases and controls. Candidate autoantigens had limited disease specificity on orthogonal testing. EPICC serum autoantibody profiling similarly failed to distinguish individuals with and without cognitive impairment.; Conclusions: Across cohorts and compartments, n-LC did not exhibit a shared autoantibody signature. These findings support the absence of a dominant, common CNS autoantibody-mediated mechanism in n-LC.; Funding: Grants HU00012020067, HU00012120103, HU00011920111, R01NS125693, R01MH125737, R01AI157488 from Defense health program and NIH. |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260327 Date Completed: 20260327 Latest Revision: 20260327 |
| Update Code: | 20260327 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13015691 |
| DOI: | 10.64898/2026.03.19.26348833 |
| PMID: | 41890992 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
Journal Article; Preprint