- The dementia drug donepezil helped decrease fatigue in a subset of people with Long COVID, according to a study published in Frontiers in Pharmacology. In the complex study, which also included testing in mice, Japanese researchers found a majority of people with Long COVID in the cohort had reactivated human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), which produced a specific protein (SITH-1) that they linked to symptoms of fatigue and depression. Researchers then analyzed samples from 73 participants in a prior clinical trial of donepezil, dividing them by those who were SITH-1 positive and negative. Participants positive for the protein saw significant improvements compared to controls. The authors stated the drug may be effective for this subgroup and that the use of anti-SITH-1 antibody titers may be a diagnostic marker for this subgroup of Long COVID, though they emphasized these findings are exploratory as they were not part of the original clinical trial. A recent preprint also linked Long COVID symptom severity with higher DNA levels of HHV-6.
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- Two posters at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference included unpublished studies on Long COVID linking the two diseases. Researchers from New York University measured the levels of pTau-217, a biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease, and found that there were higher levels in the blood of people with Long COVID compared to those who “recovered” and controls. A second poster from Lancaster University in the U.K. studied adults over 50 and found that those who had a prior SARS-C0V-2 infection were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia within two to four years. The researchers suggest this supports a threshold model where the infection accelerates the disease process in vulnerable individuals.
- The ME/CFS Research Foundation recently announced €2.4 million ($2.74 million USD) in funding for seven projects for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and Long COVID. Research topics for the projects for the awards include a trial of the monoclonal antibody tafasitamab, a ME genetics study that includes 50 families, biomarkers for autoimmunity, immune dysregulation, and a study stratifying children with ME. “We are providing rapid and unbureaucratic funding for projects that aim to generate key findings to advance research in the coming years,” the German foundation wrote.
- The National Institute of Health’s (NIH) RECOVER Treating Long COVID initiative announced last week in a webinar that a majority of the next set of trials will launch in “late fall.” These trials were previously set to start recruiting this summer. You can watch a full recording of the webinar, or read key points in a Bluesky thread from Betsy.
Simon Spichak contributed reporting on the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.
