New PET imaging method could improve our understanding of long COVID
Experts have developed a PET imaging method they believe could offer new insight into the trajectory of COVID-19 in individuals who continue to struggle with lingering symptoms after their initial recovery.
They shared their findings recently in Nature Communications, detailing the development of a specialized radiolabeled monoclonal antibody PET imaging agent. The radiotracer targets one of the virus’ spike proteins, allowing researchers to track it longitudinally.
Given the inconsistent results on long COVID research thus far, the group is optimistic that their findings could pave the way for a better understanding of how the virus affects patients’ long-term health.
“Despite extensive research, the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection is still poorly understood and requires further investigation,” Alexandra Detrille, PhD, of Paris-Saclay University, and colleagues noted. “Routine analysis provides limited access to the tissues of patients, necessitating alternative approaches to investigate viral dissemination in the organism. We address this issue by implementing a whole-body in vivo imaging strategy to longitudinally assess the biodistribution of SARS-CoV-2.”
Researchers monitored the uptake of their zirconium-89 (Zr-89) COVA1-27-DFO tracer in a group of primates—one group that had been exposed to the Delta variant of COVID and another that had not—to determine whether the radiotracer would bind to areas impacted by the virus after a period of three months.
At that time, the group observed uptake of the tracer in the lungs of some of the animals that had been exposed. This finding was also accompanied by ground glass opacities—a signature finding seen in many patients who have had serious COVID cases. They also noted increased uptake in certain regions of the brain in the exposed animals that were not evident in the control group.
Though the significance of the findings is limited by the small sample size, the authors suggested their work could pave the way for improved monitoring of long COVID in the future.
“The technology we developed offers a comprehensive assessment of SARS-CoV-2 distribution in vivo and provides a promising approach for the non-invasive study of long-COVID pathophysiology,” they concluded.
Learn more about the study here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.