Researchers have discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persists in the brain and skull bone marrow for years after infection, potentially leading to chronic inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.
Researchers from Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) have uncovered a possible explanation for the neurological symptoms associated with Long COVID. Their study reveals that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can persist in the brain’s protective layers (the meninges) and the skull’s bone marrow for up to four years after infection. This lingering spike protein may drive chronic inflammation and heighten the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.
Led by Prof. Ali Ertürk, Director of the Institute for Intelligent Biotechnologies at Helmholtz Munich, the research also found that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce spike protein buildup in the brain. Despite this reduction, spike proteins that remain in the skull and meninges after infection could be targeted by new therapeutic approaches to mitigate long-term effects.
Spike Protein Accumulates in the Brain
A novel AI-powered imaging technique developed by Prof. Ali Ertürk’s team provides new insights into how the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein affects the brain. The method renders organs and tissue samples transparent, enabling the three-dimensional visualization of cellular structures, metabolites, and, in this case, viral proteins. Using this technology, the researchers uncovered previously undetectable distributions of spike protein in tissue samples from COVID-19 patients and mice.
The study, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, revealed significantly elevated concentrations of spike protein in the skull’s bone marrow and meninges, even years after infection. The spike protein binds to so-called ACE2 receptors, which are particularly abundant in these regions.
“This may make these tissues especially vulnerable to the long-term accumulation of spike protein,” explains Dr. Zhouyi Rong, the study’s first author. Ertürk adds, “Our data also suggest that persistent spike protein at the brain’s borders may contribute to the long-term neurological effects of COVID-19 and Long COVID. This includes accelerated brain aging, potentially leading to a loss of five to ten years of healthy brain function in affected individuals.”
Impact of Vaccination on Spike Protein Levels
The Ertürk team discovered that the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduces the accumulation of spike protein in the brain. Other mRNA vaccines or vaccine types, such as vector- or protein-based vaccines, were not investigated. Mice vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine showed lower levels of spike protein in both brain tissue and the skull’s bone marrow compared to unvaccinated mice. However, the reduction was only around 50%, leaving residual spike protein that continues to pose a toxic risk to the brain.
“This reduction is an important step,” says Prof. Ertürk. “Our results, while derived from mouse models and only partially transferable to humans, point to the need for additional therapies and interventions to fully address the long-term burdens caused by SARS-CoV-2 infections.” Furthermore, additional studies are needed to evaluate the relevance of these findings for Long COVID patients.
Challenges and Advances in Long COVID Treatment
Globally, 50 to 60 percent of the population has been infected with COVID-19, with five to ten percent experiencing Long COVID. This sums up to approximately 400 million individuals who may carry significant amounts of spike protein
“This is not just an individual health issue – it is a societal challenge,” says Prof. Ertürk. “Our study shows that mRNA vaccines significantly reduce the risk of long-term neurological consequences and offer crucial protection. However, infections can still occur post-vaccination, leading to persistent spike proteins in the body. These can result in chronic brain inflammation and an increased risk of strokes and other brain injuries, which could have substantial implications for global public health and healthcare systems worldwide.”
Diagnosing and Treating Long COVID
“Our findings open new possibilities for diagnosing and treating the long-term neurological effects of COVID-19,” says Ertürk. Unlike brain tissue, the skull’s bone marrow and meninges – areas prone to spike protein accumulation – are more accessible for medical examinations.
Combined with protein panels – tests designed to detect specific proteins in tissue samples – this could allow for the identification of spike proteins or inflammatory markers in blood plasma or cerebrospinal fluid. “Such markers are critical for the early diagnosis of COVID-19-related neurological complications,” Ertürk explains. “Additionally, characterizing these proteins may support the development of targeted therapies and biomarkers to better treat or even prevent neurological impairments caused by COVID-19.”
Highlighting the broader impact of the study, leading Helmholtz Munich and Technical University of Munich virologist Prof. Ulrike Protzer adds: “Given the ongoing global impact of COVID-19 and the increasing focus on long-term effects, this study, which sheds light on brain invasion pathways and unexpected long-term host involvement, is timely. These critical insights are not only scientifically significant but also of great interest to society.”
Reference: “Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19” by Zhouyi Rong, Hongcheng Mai, Gregor Ebert, Saketh Kapoor, Victor G. Puelles, Jan Czogalla, Senbin Hu, Jinpeng Su, Danilo Prtvar, Inderjeet Singh, Julia Schädler, Claire Delbridge, Hanno Steinke, Hannah Frenzel, Katja Schmidt, Christian Braun, Gina Bruch, Viktoria Ruf, Mayar Ali, Kurt-Wolfram Sühs, Mojtaba Nemati, Franziska Hopfner, Selin Ulukaya, Denise Jeridi, Daniele Mistretta, Özüm Sehnaz Caliskan, Jochen Martin Wettengel, Fatma Cherif, Zeynep Ilgin Kolabas, Müge Molbay, Izabela Horvath, Shan Zhao, Natalie Krahmer, Ali Önder Yildirim, Siegfried Ussar, Jochen Herms, Tobias B. Huber, Sabina Tahirovic, Susanne M. Schwarzmaier, Nikolaus Plesnila, Günter Höglinger, Benjamin Ondruschka, Ingo Bechmann, Ulrike Protzer, Markus Elsner, Harsharan Singh Bhatia, Farida Hellal and Ali Ertürk, 29 November 2024, Cell Host & Microbe.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.11.007
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33 Comments
The AI is probably he most successful in chemistry and medicine.
First, why use mRNA when it’s so easy to ferment and purify large amounts of spike protein and use as an antigen?
Can the author will tell me where and who we can obtain Isolated, sucrose gradient single band purified particles?
You don’t need to catch the SARS-cov1 pathogen to end up with “long Covid”. A single dose of one of the mRNA gene therapy injections will turn your body into a spike protein factory. Talk about sins of omission!
100% agree. Hilarious how medical science didn’t believe in long COVID initially and that things remained local at injection spot. Always be suspect of anything medical science tells you. We all know from where most of it comes.
Yep my son has been suffering with long covid and has been in studies and there are doctors who still don’t believe in it. Sad. At least he found a couple of doctors working with him that do finally. It has cost him a fortune
Hi Nora,
My son has also been suffering with long covid for 2-1/2 years now.
How is your son doing now? Has the doctors he found helped? If so, would you mind passing their contact information along?
I would appreciate it.
I hope your son is doing better
I collaborate with a biotec company who published several papers on spike, and he developped a unique technology to list all the relevant biomarkers of spike impact (long covid, vaccinated or not vaccinated) with a simple dry blood test anaysis: then, he offers a neutraceutical with plant based active ingredients that repairs and erase all of it: first, you must take a special neutraceutical to push the fragments out of the skull , brain, bone marrow, then run the test to evaluate acurately, then take the food supplements for 2 weeks: and then you can re-test and see all the biomarkers are absent.
No sin of omission. That is simply nonsense. In fact, vaccinated people have a much reduced probability of long Covid. It’s no coincidence long Covid was/is far more common in those who got infected in 2020 and early 2021. Hard to make an argument that all those many millions of long Covid cases came from a vaccine that wasn’t even around yet.
Thank you Chris. You are exactly right. I got COVID at the end of 2020 before I was eligible for the vaccine and I had log COVID with horrible neurological symptoms which have only recently gone away, 4 years later!
EJ and Chris, I too was infected at the end of 2020 (November) and continue to suffer with neurological symptoms. My autonomic nervous system was severely impacted, causing horrid digestion issues that continue (I lost 55 pounds and I’ve been on a liquid diet for years), temperature regulation issues (freezing with goosebumps in 90+ weather), muscle spasms that jerk my entire body at times, swelling in my optical nerve, central apnea (brain doesn’t tell me to breathe), rashes, hair loss, and the list goes on and on. I am highly educated (PHD) and used to be very healthy. My ongoing health issues were without a doubt caused by COVID! I’m so tired of people gaslighting all of us people whose lives have been impacted by Long COVID.
Sorry to heat Jamie. Yes, it is disgusting that people have succumbed to all the propaganda! I wish you best in your journey!
My husband and I got infected in March 2020. I got a sore throat for 2 nights and fatigue. He was extremely sick with prolonged bouts of coughing, fever, chest pain, cardiac arrhymias, loss of senses of taste and smell amongst other things. He was very lucky to survive. He still has minimal sense of taste and practically no sense of smell. The vaccines were not available until April 2021. The first time he got the vaccination he felt a lot better but still has Long Covid and has continued to get the vaccine when it becomes available.
Gill, I was vaccinated 3 months after my infection and it actually helped to temper some of my worst symptoms. All the best to you and your husband.
Chris you are right. I caught covid July 2020 and been bedridden with long covid since. The Pfizer vax hasn’t helped much. My docs tell me my labs are fine. Nobody believes us.
The article literally said that “long COVID” is a persistence of the spike protein after infection…the SAME spike protein that the so-called “vaccine” sets you up to make for yourself. So you can’t contradict the OP on this without an explanation as to how one causes “long COVID” and the other doesn’t.
That’s not true. That’s not how the vaccination works. At all.
But these are not vaccines, they’re just calling them that to sell them.
And you said it – they don’t work. Vaccination is supposed to shield you from the disease altogether, and the best they can say about that mRNA stuff is that it “reduces the symptoms” once you contract the disease.
Hilarious they that think this stuff has been sitting around for 4 years. It’s new.
You have no idea what you are talking about
You’re spreading false information. Please don’t mess with long Covid sufferers who might be looking on this thread for help with serious Covid brain damage. If you read the article, you’ll see that mRNA vaccines decrease spike protein in the brain.
That is an incorrect interpretation of the results (unfortunately). The article shows that vaccinated mice have less build-up of spike protein versus unvaccinated mice. So a vaccin prevents the spike protein build-up. They did not test the effect of vaccine treatment, so vaccination after infection.
I actually read the article as I (as long-covid patient) was hoping they showed a treatment potential.
Yes, sins of omission to the power of 1000! I wonder if the researchers for this study got money from the same funding sources that promote or will promote long covid treatment by PHARMA.
Michael, the presence of the N protein, which is not produced by vaccines, indicates that the detected spike protein originated from a natural viral infection rather than vaccination.
Antivax nonsense has no place in this discussion.
I’m not an antivaxer, but the Moderna MRNA vaccine gave me and a lot of other people myocarditis:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/myocarditis.html
The spike protein that our bodies manufacture as a result of the vaccine has been implicated as at least one of the causes of such myocarditis:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10010664/#:~:text=The%20study%20from%20Yonker%20et,cause%20or%20marker%20of%20myocarditis.
I’ve honestly not felt the same since I got the vaccine and booster and I reported my symptoms to my doctor long before articles started appearing about MRNA-covid-vaccine related myocarditis; so in my case at least, it was not a matter of me imagining I had it based on reading articles about it first. It’s real.
I believe that producing and releasing the vaccine on an accelerated schedule was the right move, as it saved many lives, but it does have side effects and talking about them does not make one a tin-foil-hat-wearing antivaxer.
You don’t have to be an anti-vaxxer to oppose something which, prior to the definition-change to shoe-horn this poison in, was NOT a vaccine. And opposing one jab, vaccine or not, cannot make you an “anti-vaxxer”.
I still get my regular shots…flu, MMR, anthrax, etc., but I have never gotten and WILL NEVER get an mRNA shot of any kind.
“The Ertürk team discovered that the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduces the accumulation of spike protein in the brain.”
—-
Given that the mRNA shot (I won’t call it a “vaccine”) creates SPIKE proteins for the body to use as training targets against a future Covid infection, why exactly wouldn’t these spike proteins linger in the brain also? Are they not the same as the virus spike protein? If no, what is special about them and what purpose, if any, do the shots serve?
I’ve never had the mRNA shots. I have had Covid twice. Both times were relatively mild, I recovered and got on with my life with no “Long Covid” effects.
btw: I’m 73 yo.
I’m 50 and have had the exact same experience with COVID as you. No vaccinations, no severe symptoms.
Long COVID only effects a small percentage of those infected with COVID. Consider yourself lucky. I got COVID at the end of 2020 before the vaccine was available to me. I suffered for a long time with debilitating neurological issues.
I have the same symptoms and I know my brain is deterating at a steady rate and my hair is falling out by the handfuls .. I know your right.. I feel it in my head ringing of the ears horrible taste in my mouth. Yes all of the same things you speak of .
EJ I’m the same as you and Jojo your very lucky.LC is so real to me . I got covid on 23.12.2020. It led to long covid and on 1.2.2021 I had a 6.30 sezuire then on 3.2.2021 another 4.30 sezuire. I was diagnosed in August 2021 with Functional Neurological Disorder and Functional movement disorder and ME. I still have all the illnesses and am severely disabled. I’ve had 3 jabs but have been advised to have no more as the injection is another foreign body plus I still caught covid again last June . My Neurological problems are terrible. Covid has cost me so much of my life so anyone who thinks long covid doesn’t exist needs there brain testing ,I should know. Sorry for those of you who have been so badly affected as well.
Long Covid has cost me the years at the end of my life. I am 78 years old, and all of my body systems has been affected. I wrote earlier about the many systems I suffer with and won’t bore you with them again. I went from a very active and alive senior citizen with plans for a wonderful, retired life. Now I can’t do anything but get through each day fighting for my breath. Yes, Long Covid is real. Thank you for the scientific updates and the opportunity to comment.
Spike proteins are all caused by vaccines. Vaccine trials conducted in Japan have proven a wide variety of side effects. Among them, serious symptoms occurred with a high probability. We must not participate in the tactics of vaccine manufacturers.
If someone is trying to avoid spike protein, why take a shot that causes someone’s body to produce it?