Long COVID and Type I IFN Signature in Working-Age Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

To investigate relevant biomarkers that might aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of long COVID (LC), an analysis of IFN-α, IFN-β, ISG15, and ISG56 transcripts was performed by Real-Time PCR among people of working age who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 one year prior to the study [LC and non-long COVID (NLC)]. Despite no differences in the transcript levels of IFN-α, IFN-β, ISG15, and ISG56 between LC and NLC, higher IFN-β mRNA levels were observed among LC compared to NLC individuals who were hospitalized for more than 10 days during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, previously SARS-CoV-2 infected participants that did not require respiratory support and developed LC exhibited higher levels of IFN-α and IFN-β compared to NLC with the same clinical characteristics. These results highlight that SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to changes in peripheral innate immune pathways, which could have implications for the development of LC.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Published
2025-09-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26189089
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.39
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article

Long COVID and Type I IFN Signature in Working-Age Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Gabriella d’Ettorre, Federica Frasca, Letizia Santinelli, Gabriele d’Ettorre et al.
1 citations
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
1.39
article

Long COVID and Type I IFN Signature in Working-Age Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Gabriella d’Ettorre, Federica Frasca, Letizia Santinelli, Gabriele d’Ettorre, Claudio Maria Mastroianni, Ginevra Bugani, Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Luca Bortolani, Luca Maddaloni, Elio Gentilini Cacciola, Matteo Fracella, Marco Ridolfi
article en
1 citations

Abstract

To investigate relevant biomarkers that might aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of long COVID (LC), an analysis of IFN-α, IFN-β, ISG15, and ISG56 transcripts was performed by Real-Time PCR among people of working age who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 one year prior to the study [LC and non-long COVID (NLC)]. Despite no differences in the transcript levels of IFN-α, IFN-β, ISG15, and ISG56 between LC and NLC, higher IFN-β mRNA levels were observed among LC compared to NLC individuals who were hospitalized for more than 10 days during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, previously SARS-CoV-2 infected participants that did not require respiratory support and developed LC exhibited higher levels of IFN-α and IFN-β compared to NLC with the same clinical characteristics. These results highlight that SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to changes in peripheral innate immune pathways, which could have implications for the development of LC.

International Journal of Molecular SciencesVol. 26(18)
Local Government Association (GB), Policlinico Umberto I (IT), Regional Health (US), Ospedale Cannizzaro (IT), Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
1.39
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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