Dysregulated NK-cell gene expression defines the enduring symptoms of long COVID-19
LTCS is characterized by systemic cytokine attenuation and a quantitative and functional NK-cell deficit coupled to neurosensory pathway suppression. These findings identify NK cells as key sentinels of LTCS pathophysiology and highlight an NK-centric neuroimmune axis as a promising target for biomarker discovery and therapeutic intervention.
Authors
- Urvi Ray
- Yogesh Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6919-6273)
- Madhuri S. Salker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7939-289X)
- Nicolas Casadei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2209-0580)
- Vladislav Lysenkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1468-1631)
- Stephan Ossowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7416-9568)
- Siri Göpel
- Antje Schulze Selting
- Olaf Riess
- Michael Bitzer
- Roshan Priyarangana Perera
- Zhiqi Yang
Institutions
- Institute for Women's Policy Research (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- German Center for Infection Research (DE)
- University Children's Hospital Tübingen (DE)
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen (DE)
- Women's Health Research Institute (CA)
- BC Children's Hospital (CA)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Immunology
- Published
- 2026-03-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1720551
- Primary Topic
- Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00