#60: Autoimmunity proven in subset of LC patients

Hello Long Hauler fam,

☀️ Here are 3 research findings, 1 musical thought, and 1 question to consider this week (plus 🐶 pic).

3 IDEAS FROM RESEARCH

I. The clearest sign yet that Long Covid can be the immune system attacking itself

A big team at Yale and Mount Sinai (led by a personal hero of the Sunbeam, Akiko Iwasaki, and others) has shown that, in at least some of us, the body makes antibodies that turn on its own nerves and brain tissue.

They took antibodies from Long Covid patients and put them into mice - and the mice started showing the same kinds of symptoms, like new pain. This has been done before, but this was the first time that researchers have definitively been able to say ‘autoimmunity definitely causes the disease for a subset of patients’.

For this subset that means it’s not really about chasing a single virus any more. It’s auto-immune in a subset of people, autoantibodies > attack on nerve tissue > symptoms - and immune diseases are a field we already have tools for, like IVIG and ways of filtering the bad antibodies out.

So one of these days we’ll have a simple test that says “yours is the autoantibody type” - and then studies (or existing treatments) specifically for those people. Goodie!

Source: Yale News / Cell (28 May 2026)

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II. A new “cure” effort, and a gut-sealing trial worth watching

At the PolyBio symposium this month, two things stood out (as highlighted by Cort’s excellent blog in Healthrising - he covers a lot more than the below). One is a new Long Covid Cure Initiative, with $10m behind it, built around sorting patients into proper subtypes first and then matching treatments to each group - this is such a theme these days in the research - find the subtypes and the rest follows.

The other is an early trial of a drug called larazotide. The gist is, a leaky gut lining lets viral bits spill into the blood and keep the immune system overwhelmed. Larazotide tightens those gut junctions back up. Early results in 107 people looked encouraging.

This one is also interesting because it’s about the tissues, not just the blood (which has been stealing the spotlight in the research of late).

Caveats: this is early, Phase 2a, small-ish, and “encouraging early results” is a long way from proven treatment.

Source: Health Rising - PolyBio 2026 Symposium (17 June 2026)

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III. Hunting the exact targets behind our exhausted immune cells

A group of researchers (including Liisa Selin, who has lived with ME/CFS herself for decades) are trying to pin down the exact proteins that make our immune T-cells act up and exhaust themselves.

Yet another avenue for subtyping: if they can name the targets, they can start splitting us into real biological groups - e.g. a viral-persistence type and an autoimmune type - and each type points to a different treatment. Precision! This is not your grandma’s ME/CFS trials… It really feels like a whole new era.

Apparently several teams are now moving in the same direction, which is a good sign.

Source: Health Rising - T-cell targets (9 June 2026)

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1 MUSICAL THOUGHT

In true long hauler style, I took quite a while to make this album of gentle ambient piano music with a friend of mine, in a very paced way over the last 3 years. Like the process itself, it’s very gentle and spacious, and I include it here incase you may find it relaxing.

If you prefer you can also listen on Bandcamp.

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

The state of ‘post viral chronic illness’ research is ever brighter, and yet…

When you read about research moving forward but no treatments yet, where do you sit between letting yourself hope, feeling frustrated, and also just carrying on with your life? Comments below :)

puppy p.s. (Making the most of some old bedding before it goes to the Salvation Army)

(alt text: Whisky the cream coloured toy poodle naps atop a box of old bedding sitting by the front door waiting to be donated)

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Tom and Whisky

☺️

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