Did Swank et al. clue us into 'LONG COVID' and the persistence in circulation of spike protein (sub-units, thus mRNAs, LNPs)? Can spike protein (virus or vaccine induced) persist for many months if
by Paul Alexander
not years in the blood of humans? Yes! 100%, up to 12 months post infection (and thus vaccine) and the rate limiting step was the duration of follow-up; had it been for 2 years, you would detect at 2
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.14.22276401v1
‘analyzed plasma samples collected from a cohort of PASC and COVID-19 patients (n = 63) to quantify circulating viral antigens and inflammatory markers.
Strikingly…detected SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen in a majority of PASC (LONG COVID) patients up to 12 months post-diagnosis, suggesting the presence of an active persistent SARS-CoV-2 viral reservoir.
Furthermore, temporal antigen profiles for many patients show the presence of spike at multiple time points over several months, highlighting the potential utility of the SARS-CoV-2 full spike protein as a biomarker for PASC.’