PNNL

RICHLAND, Wash.—A new finding that helps explain the severe and long-lasting effects of COVID-19 has its roots in a project conducted at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory during the early stages of the pandemic.

Back in 2020, Matthew Wolfgang of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill set out to explore the proteins, lipids and metabolites active in patients. His proposal to the EMSL user program was accepted, and his team worked with several EMSL and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists to explore changes in the immune system. The team discovered and isolated three peptides, or pieces of proteins, exclusively in patients who were severely ill.

Scientists have shown that one of these protein fragments sets off a severe reaction, provoking a storm of immune molecules that aggravate the severity of the disease. The peptide, a remnant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, circulates in some patients even after the virus is destroyed. The finding could help explain long COVID, where patients have symptoms months or years after the virus is cleared from the body.

“The viral remnant, left over after the virus is destroyed, can trigger an immune response more harmful to the patient than the virus itself,” said scientist Geremy Clair, who led the PNNL team.

The initial EMSL project was made possible through funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which allowed the Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility to pivot some resources to focus on pandemic-related research. PNNL authors of the paper, published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, include Athena Schepmoes, Mary Lipton, Rui Zhao, Joshua Adkins and Clair.

More information about the “zombie” viral fragment and its effects are in the news release from the University of California, Los Angeles, where Gerard Wong led the recent study.