Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) – The following summarizes recent research on COVID-19. These include studies that need further investigation to confirm the results and those that are yet to receive peer review certification.

Long-term COVID can be caused by breakthrough infections

New research shows that long COVID-19, the persistent COVID-19-related after-effects can be developed in people who have had “breakthrough” vaccines. Oxford University, UK, reviewed nearly 20,000 U.S. patients with COVID-19. Half of them had been vaccinated. The risks of death for fully-vaccinated people – especially under-60- were lower than those for unvaccinated individuals. “On the other hand,” the research team reported on medRxiv on Tuesday https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.26.21265508v1 ahead of peer review, “previous vaccination does not appear to protect against several previously documented outcomes of COVID-19 such as long COVID features, arrhythmia, joint pain, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, sleep disorders, and mood and anxiety disorders.” Their conclusion was that long COVID protection is not available due to the “high incidence and weight” of such lasting issues.

Critical COVID-19 may be explained by genes in healthy young adults

The coronavirus may be able to replicate itself in healthy young people. This is according to new research. French researchers examined 72 COVID-19 hospitalized patients below 50 years old. They found that 47 were seriously ill, 25 had non-critical illnesses, and 22 healthy volunteers. There were no chronic conditions that could increase your risk of poor outcomes such as diabetes or heart disease. A genetic analysis revealed five genes significantly “upregulated” or more active among patients with severe illness. One of these was ADAM9. As reported on Tuesday in Science Translational Medicine https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abj7521, the researchers saw the same genetic pattern in a separate group of 154 COVID-19 patients, including 81 who were critically ill. Later, in lab experiments using human lung cells infected with the coronavirus, they found that blocking the activity of the ADAM9 gene made it harder for the virus to make copies of itself. To confirm these findings and decide if it is worth developing treatments that block ADAM9, more research will be needed.

First dose vaccines are not effective for pregnant women

A new study has shown that women who receive the first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy or nursing need to get the second to maintain their protection. Researchers examined the immune response to the various mRNA vaccinations. Moderna (NASDAQ:) Inc or Pfizer Inc (NYSE:), and BioNTech SE(NASDAQ:) were in 84 pregnant women and 31 nursing women. 16 other similar-aged, non-lactating, older women are also included. Everyone developed antibodies to the coronavirus after the first shot. However, antibodies were less high in pregnant and breastfeeding women. The immune system also showed other signs and symptoms that were lower in pregnant or breastfeeding women, but returned to normal following the second dose. In a report published last week in Science Translational Medicine https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abi8631, the researchers explained that in order for a mother’s body to nurture the fetus, “substantial immunological changes occur throughout pregnancy.” These new results suggest that pregnant women alter the immune system’s response to vaccines. Researchers stated that because pregnant women are at high risk of complications from COVID-19 it is crucial for them to receive the second dose as soon as possible.

Coronavirus has been found to infect fat cells

Being obese is known to increase the risk of developing more severe COVID-19. Researchers have found that the virus may infect fat cells. They found that two types of fat-tissue cells were infected by the virus, adipocytes and macrophages. “Infection of fat cells led to a marked inflammatory response, consistent with the type of immune response that is seen in severe cases of COVID-19,” said Dr. Catherine Blish of Stanford University School of Medicine, whose team reported the findings on bioRxiv on Monday https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.24.465626v1 ahead of peer review. These data show that fat tissue infection and the associated inflammation response could be one reason why obesity is so common in people with SARS-CoV-2.

Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development.

This article corrects dates of publication and posting for studies.