- A new study that found the risk of Long COVID doubled in children following SARS-C0V-2 reinfection made mainstream headlines this week. As part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RECOVER program, researchers assessed health records from over 460,000 participants under the age of 21 across 40 hospital systems and found that the risk of developing Long COVID may be cumulative with each infection. The authors stated the findings aligned with studies on adults and emerging evidence on immune waning post-infection. “The new evidence that reinfections can trigger or worsen this chronic condition suggests that the societal burden is set to grow,” researcher Danilo Buonsenso (who was not involved with the study) wrote in an editorial about it.
- Researchers in Japan may have found a potential biomarker and treatment target for cognitive dysfunction in Long COVID. The small study, published in Brain Communications, assessed 30 participants with the disease and compared them to 80 controls using advanced brain imaging. They discovered a significantly increased density of AMPA receptors in people with Long COVID; these are learning and memory receptors found in the brain and spinal cord. Based on their findings, the researchers suggested future clinical trials on drugs that target AMPA receptors, like perampanel, which is used to treat some types of epilepsy.
- A new phase 1 clinical trial is currently recruiting to test the GLP-1 agonist drug Liraglutide for Long COVID, multiple sclerosis, and acute leukemia. The small study plans to recruit 30 participants with a body mass index over 27 at its study site in Chicago, Illinois. Researchers will measure how the drug affects a disease marker called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). The NIH’s RECOVER-Treating Long COVID initiative is also planning a clinical trial for Long COVID using another GLP-1 agonist drug (the exact drug has not been officially announced). Study contact: cancerclinicaltrials@bsd.uchicago.edu.
