Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41535956›Full record

ArticleJournal of translational medicine2026

The NLRP3 inflammasome as a key pathway in the affective and chronic fatigue symptoms of Long COVID.

Yingqian Zhang, Hussein Kadhem Al-Hakeim, Hawraa Kadhem Al-Jassas, Michael Maes

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Yingqian Zhang *Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610072, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1208-6070
Hussein Kadhem Al-Hakeim *Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq.
Hawraa Kadhem Al-JassasDepartment of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq.
Michael MaesSichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610072, China. michaelmaes@uestc.edu.cn.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2012-871X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe neuropsychiatric and somatic manifestations (physio-affective phenome) of Long COVID are substantially predicted by elevated peak body temperature (PBT) and diminished oxygen saturation (SpO2) during the acute infectious stage. The latter is linked to the immune pathophysiology of Long COVID involving activation of the immune-inflammatory response system (IRS) and the nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat and pyrin domain-containing receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Nevertheless, there is a lack of data indicating whether NLRP3 and its components are implicated in the physio-affective phenome of Long COVID.

methodWe enrolled 161 Long COVID patients 6 to 9 months after the acute phase and divided them into two groups based on their baseline PBT and SpO2 levels, corresponding to mild and severe acute COVID-19. We assessed serum NLRP3, caspase-1, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-18, IL-1β, IL-10, fibronectin, and Gasdermin D (GSDMD) during Long COVID.

resultsAll of the aforementioned indicators (except IL-10) were substantially higher in Long COVID patients who had previously experienced severe COVID-19 than in those who had mild acute COVID-19. The physio-affective phenome of Long COVID and the severity of the acute COVID-19 were significantly correlated with these IRS biomarkers, with the exception of fibronectin. The variance in the overall severity of Long COVID is accounted for (49.5%) by the combined influence of fibronectin, IL-10, SpO2, and PBT.

conclusionThe severity of Long COVID is strongly associated with IRS and NLRP3 activation and the severity of the inflammatory response during the acute infectious phase. NLRP3 activation is a drug target to treat Long COVID.

Indexed as

COVID-19FatigueInflammasomesNLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 ProteinAdultAgedChronic DiseaseFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPost-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeSARS-CoV-2InflammasomesNLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 ProteinNLRP3 protein, humanBiomarkersChronic fatigueDepressionInflammationLong COVIDNLRP3

Identifiers

PMID41535956
PMCPMC12888595

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.