Researchers have found a brand new method to tackling a lingering well being problem confronted by some with long-term COVID: excessive blood sugar ranges.
Their new research in Nature Communications means that the COVID-19 vaccine might be used therapeutically to handle metabolic problems skilled amongst these with long-term COVID, generally known as long-haulers, even when the vaccine is run a number of days after an infection.
“This analysis opens up a brand new frontier in our battle towards COVID-19.”
Many individuals who get better from COVID-19 proceed to endure from numerous long-term health problems, collectively often known as lengthy COVID.
One of the crucial regarding points is persistent hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, which may result in severe well being problems reminiscent of diabetes and coronary heart illness. Understanding and addressing this downside has been a serious problem for researchers and well being care suppliers.
To higher perceive and fight these long-term results, the researchers turned to a nonhuman primate mannequin of lengthy COVID and decided that the mannequin can also be acceptable for learning COVID-onset hyperglycemia and diabetes.
The researchers discovered that administering the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine 4 days after an infection confirmed a major optimistic impact on blood sugar ranges that was sustained over time.
This discovering means that the vaccine may doubtlessly be used not only for prevention but additionally as a therapy for managing long-term metabolic problems of COVID-19.
The researchers additionally recognized sure inflammatory molecules within the bloodstream linked to excessive blood sugar ranges. The elevated blood sugar appears to consequence from modifications in how the liver shops glucose, although the virus was now not current within the liver and pancreas. These findings recommend that diabetes might develop by new mechanisms involving viral infections and irritation.
“This analysis opens up a brand new frontier in our battle towards COVID-19,” says Tulane College’s Clovis Palmer, one of many lead authors of the research. “By exhibiting that the vaccine can have therapeutic advantages even after an infection, we will discover new methods to assist these affected by lengthy COVID, particularly these with symptoms like continual fatigue that could be linked to metabolic dysfunction.”
“The invention that COVID can induce diabetes in an animal mannequin is a major development in our understanding of the long-term results of COVID,” says Jay Rappaport, co-corresponding writer and director of the Tulane Nationwide Primate Analysis Heart.
“The truth that a COVID vaccine given after an infection can have protecting results highlights the significance of progressive analysis in addressing the continued challenges of a pandemic.”
Help for this analysis got here from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH), the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Illnesses (NIAID), and sources from the Tulane Nationwide Primate Analysis Heart base grant of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Supply: Tulane University
