Plasma UCHL1, GFAP, Tau, and NfL Are Not Different in Young Healthy Persons With Mild COVID-19 Symptoms Early in the Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Matthew J Rogatzki; Rachel E Szeghy; Nina L Stute; Valesha M Province; Marc A Augenreich; Jonathon L Stickford; Abigail S L Stickford; Erik D Hanson; Stephen M Ratchford

doi:10.1089/neur.2023.0014

Plasma UCHL1, GFAP, Tau, and NfL Are Not Different in Young Healthy Persons With Mild COVID-19 Symptoms Early in the Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Neurotrauma Rep. 2023 May 15;4(1):330-341. doi: 10.1089/neur.2023.0014. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Matthew J Rogatzki¹, Rachel E Szeghy¹, Nina L Stute², Valesha M Province³, Marc A Augenreich⁴, Jonathon L Stickford¹, Abigail S L Stickford¹, Erik D Hanson⁵, Stephen M Ratchford¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA.
² School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA.
³ Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA.
⁵ Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

Abstract

Elevated levels of brain injury biomarkers have been found primarily in middle-aged or older persons experiencing moderate-to-severe COVID-19 symptoms. However, there is little research in young adults, and there is concern that COVID-19 causes brain injury even in the absence of moderate-to-severe symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate whether neurofilament light (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), tau, or ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (UCHL1) are elevated in the plasma of young adults with mild COVID-19 symptoms. Twelve participants diagnosed with COVID-19 had plasma collected 1, 2, 3, and 4 months after diagnosis to determine whether NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations increased over time or whether plasma concentrations were elevated compared with COVID-19-naïve participants. We also compared plasma NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations between sexes. Our results showed no difference between NfL, GFAP, tau, and UCHL1 concentrations in COVID-19-naïve participants and COVID-19-positive participants at any of the four time points (p = 0.771). Within the COVID-19-positive participants, UCHL1 levels were higher at month 3 after diagnosis compared to month 1 or month 2 (p = 0.027). Between sexes, females were found to have higher UCHL1 (p = 0.003) and NfL (p = 0.037) plasma concentrations compared to males, whereas males had higher plasma tau concentrations than females (p = 0.024). Based on our data, it appears that mild COVID-19 in young adults does not increase plasma NfL, GFAP, tau, or UCHL1.

Keywords: COVID-19; GFAP; NfL; Tau; UCHL1; biomarkers; mild symptoms; plasma.