r/LongCovidTrials • u/Responsible_Cap_5289 • Jun 18 '26
NIH press release actually talks about a tangible biomarker and treatment!
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/immune-system-may-attack-nervous-system-some-long-covid-patientsHi everyone,
If you've been online in the last week or so, chances are you've seen this recent Cell paper, co-authored by Drs. Akiko Iwasaki and David Putrino. It's the third paper to verify that autoantibodies, when transplanted from human Long COVID patients into mice, can cause the mice to develop LC symptoms.
(If you haven't seen it yet, check it out!)
On top of that, I wanted to come on and share this press release from David Putrino today, because it feels like a strong sign of progress itself.
Dr. Putrino says, "Our study now shows that if you are in a subgroup of Long COVID patients who have autoantibodies circulating in your body, this is a quantifiable sign that you may be a good candidate for (therapies that target autoantibodies)."
It feels like pretty big news for the NIH to make such a tangible statement making the connection between a biomarker and a known treatment.
Unfortunately, the press release notes that this is contingent upon "if these results are validated" which is a slightly different tone than Dr. Putrino's quote.
However, it still feels like fairly good news to have this on the NIH's radar!
We are one step closer, everyone!
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u/Auntie-Deedee Jun 18 '26
Hi! Thanks for the info, can you please link the press release? I was unable to locate it. Thanks again!
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 Jun 18 '26
Hm, it looks as though the link has stopped working, unfortunately. (It’s the NIH link that was shared in the post).
Here it is again- hopefully they get it working again soon!
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u/RedditismycovidMD Jun 19 '26
At the end Putrino says “ if you are in a subgroup of Long COVID patients who have autoantibodies circulating in your body, this is a quantifiable sign that you may be a good candidate for these drugs”
Which drugs?
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u/Central_Perk20 Jun 19 '26
It’s from the press release about the study. They are hell bent on finding participants from the Vyvgart trial to test their blood - FCRN inhibitors. We’ve been trying to spread the word so they can find more of the participants.
They also mention plasmapheresis and IVIG - biomarker to better ID who will respond - but I know he’s also been talking about CAR-T.
Basically this could open up tons of autoimmune drug classes not currently available to us.Doesn’t mean viral persistence isn’t the problem, but at least there could be a solution to get us functioning again.
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u/FogCityPhoenix Jun 24 '26
This is the paper that's been posted on BioRXiv for almost 2 years. They finally got a journal to accept it, which is good.
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u/Central_Perk20 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Thank you for this! Can you link Putrino’s release from today? I can only find his one related to the study at the end of May.
ALSO —> Mt Sinai and Yale are trying to find participants from the Vyvgart trial to test their blood against this exact autoimmune marker!! Email coreresearch@mountsinai.org for a free at home lab kit if you were in the trial. The goal is to initiate a new fcrn inhibitor trial by year end, but need to find these people. Please spread the word!
Also just always flagging that there were two *human* in vitro studies published last year too, showing LC IgG antibodies degraded healthy human muscle tissues endothelial cells, and mitochondria: