PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1603317
Perspective: Host Factors Variants and the Underlying Causes of Long COVID
Provisionally accepted
- Rattana Bundit University, Bangkok, Thailand
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Long COVID, also known as post-COVID syndrome (PCS), is characterized by persistent and unexplained symptoms that can occur not only in individuals who experienced severe symptoms during the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection but also in those who were asymptomatic or had only mild symptoms. These symptoms may persist for months, even in individuals who test negative via nasopharyngeal swab samples. This proposal aims to explain the cause of long COVID through the concept of host factor variants, including cellular variants and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphisms. A key aspect of this hypothesis is the role of antigen-presenting cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells. It is proposed that blood or white blood cells could serve as suitable samples for diagnosing long COVID in affected individuals.
Keywords: Host factors variants, Long Covid, Cellular variants, MHC polymorphism, antigen presenting cells
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pasharawipas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tirasak Pasharawipas, Rattana Bundit University, Bangkok, 10240, Thailand
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.