Persistent IgG anticardiolipin autoantibodies are associated with post-COVID syndrome

• Published in: International journal of infectious diseases Vol. 113; pp. 23 - 25
• Main Authors: Bertin, Daniel, Kaphan, Elsa, Weber, Samuel, Babacci, Benjamin, Arcani, Robin, Faucher, Benoit, Ménard, Amélie, Brodovitch, Alexandre, Mege, Jean Louis, Bardin, Nathalie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2021; Elsevier; The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Antibodies, Anticardiolipin; anticardiolipin antibodies; antiphospholipid antibodies; Autoantibodies; Bacteriology; Cardiology and cardiovascular system; Case Report; COVID-19; COVID-19 - complications; Emerging diseases; Female; Human health and pathology; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Infectious diseases; Life Sciences; long COVID syndrome; Microbiology and Parasitology; Middle Aged; Parasitology; post-COVID syndrome; SARS-CoV-2; Virology; COVID-19; long COVID syndrome; post-COVID syndrome; anticardiolipin antibodies; antiphospholipid antibodies
• ISSN: 1201-9712; 1878-3511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.079

•To date, no biological markers have been proposed to predict post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome (PCS).•Immunoglobulin G (IgG) anticardiolipin autoantibodies (aCL) are associated with the severity of COVID-19.•This article reports a case of persistent IgG aCL positivity in a patient with PCS.•Persistence of aCL positivity could be a biological predictor of PCS. Persistence of various symptoms in patients who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was recently defined as ‘long COVID’ or ‘post-COVID syndrome’ (PCS). This article reports a case of a 58-year-old woman who, although recovering from COVID-19, had novel and persistent symptoms including neurological complications that could not be explained by any cause other than PCS. In addition to a low inflammatory response, persistence of immunoglobulin G anticardiolipin autoantibody positivity and eosinopenia were found 1 year after acute COVID-19 infection, both of which have been defined previously as independent factors associated with the severity of COVID-19. The pathophysiological mechanism of PCS is unknown, but the possibility of persistence of the virus, especially in the nervous system, could be suggested with a post-infectious inflammatory or autoimmune reaction.