ArticleEuropean heart journal. Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy2023
Vascular mechanisms of post-COVID-19 conditions: Rho-kinase is a novel target for therapy.
Article in European heart journal. Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04403607 (Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Imaging in SARS-CoV-2), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Imaging in SARS-CoV-2: A Study of the Heart, Lungs and Wellbeing After COVID-19.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomarkers of post-acute infection syndrome: a systematic literature review.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- The Omics Landscape of Long COVID-A Comprehensive Systematic Review to Advance Biomarker, Target and Drug Discovery.Allergy · 2025Pooled it
- RhoB supports rubella infection and impairs endothelial barrier integrity through downstream ROCK signaling.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Selective Inhibition of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Function by COVID-19 Antiviral Drugs: Impact of Heme Oxygenase-1.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Vascular fibrosis and extracellular matrix remodelling in post-COVID 19 conditions.Infectious medicine · 2024Review
- Phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells in COVID-19: Role of cholesterol, calcium, and phosphate.Journal of cellular physiology · 2024Review
- Targeting the High-Density Lipoprotein Proteome for the Treatment of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Post-COVID dysautonomias: what we know and (mainly) what we don't know.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn post-coronavirus disease-19 (post-COVID-19) conditions (long COVID), systemic vascular dysfunction is implicated, but the mechanisms are uncertain, and the treatment is imprecise. METHODS AND
resultsPatients convalescing after hospitalization for COVID-19 and risk factor matched controls underwent multisystem phenotyping using blood biomarkers, cardiorenal and pulmonary imaging, and gluteal subcutaneous biopsy (NCT04403607). Small resistance arteries were isolated and examined using wire myography, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and spatial transcriptomics. Endothelium-independent (sodium nitroprusside) and -dependent (acetylcholine) vasorelaxation and vasoconstriction to the thromboxane A2 receptor agonist, U46619, and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the presence or absence of a RhoA/Rho-kinase inhibitor (fasudil), were investigated. Thirty-seven patients, including 27 (mean age 57 years, 48% women, 41% cardiovascular disease) 3 months post-COVID-19 and 10 controls (mean age 57 years, 20% women, 30% cardiovascular disease), were included. Compared with control responses, U46619-induced constriction was increased (P = 0.002) and endothelium-independent vasorelaxation was reduced in arteries from COVID-19 patients (P < 0.001). This difference was abolished by fasudil. Histopathology revealed greater collagen abundance in COVID-19 arteries {Masson's trichrome (MT) 69.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 67.8-71.7]; picrosirius red 68.6% [95% CI: 64.4-72.8]} vs. controls [MT 64.9% (95% CI: 59.4-70.3) (P = 0.028); picrosirius red 60.1% (95% CI: 55.4-64.8), (P = 0.029)]. Greater phosphorylated myosin light chain antibody-positive staining in vascular smooth muscle cells was observed in COVID-19 arteries (40.1%; 95% CI: 30.9-49.3) vs. controls (10.0%; 95% CI: 4.4-15.6) (P < 0.001). In proof-of-concept studies, gene pathways associated with extracellular matrix alteration, proteoglycan synthesis, and viral mRNA replication appeared to be upregulated.
conclusionPatients with post-COVID-19 conditions have enhanced vascular fibrosis and myosin light change phosphorylation. Rho-kinase activation represents a novel therapeutic target for clinical trials.
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Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.