The immune response to COVID-19 has been studied extensively, but less is known about how the infection may hamper the immune system in the long term and its ability to respond to future challenges. In this Genome Medicine study, the researchers from Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and CAMS Oxford Institute showed that COVID-19 infection causes a prolonged increase in the pro-inflammatory transcriptional status leading to the development of long-term health issues including autoimmune disease, reactivation of other viruses and disruption of the host immune system-microbiome ecosystem.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the breadth of studies dedicated to understanding COVID-19 have facilitated large publicly available single-cell transcriptomics datasets that can help in profiling the immune response to viral infection and disease outcome, in both the acute and post-acute phases of the disease. This has enabled detailed investigation of the long-term effects of the disease.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine website.