Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40329195›Full record

ArticleMolecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.)2025

A pilot study on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on IL-1β-mediated inflammation in peripheral blood immune cells from AIED patients.

Shresh Pathak, Natalie Tan, Andrea Vambutas

Abstract read
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Article in Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Shresh PathakNorthwell Health, 2000 Marcus Avenue, New Hyde Park, New York, NY, 11042, USA.
Natalie TanAlbert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, NY, USA.
Andrea VambutasNorthwell Health, 2000 Marcus Avenue, New Hyde Park, New York, NY, 11042, USA. avambuta@northwell.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundImmune-mediated hearing loss (IMHL) patients (comprised of autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL)) may be at higher risk for hearing loss following Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection and/or vaccination.

methodsWe compared inflammatory cytokine expression in response to SARS-CoV2 spike protein between two groups of patients with IMHL: IMHL patients that temporally demonstrated worsening SNHL following COVID vaccination or infection as compared to IMHL patients with worsening SNHL unrelated to COVID exposure: (IMHL-COVID ( +)) (n = 11) (IMHL-COVID (-)) (n = 10). In these two groups, we treated isolated PBMCs with increasing amounts of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and compared responses to stimulation with positive and negative controls.

resultsPeripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) from IMHL-COVID ( +) patients had increased expression and release of both IL-1β and IL-6 in response to spike protein as compared to IMHL-COVID (-) patients. However, when the IMHL-COVID ( +) group was broken down into AIED patients compared to SSNHL, it became apparent that the greatest responses were from the AIED patients (p < 0.005 for IL-6 mRNA expression and p < 0.003 for IL-6 release when compared between any two similar groups using Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test). When we broke down the COVID ( +) group to infection versus vaccination, the immune responses in the infection group (N = 3 AIED, 1 SSNHL) were stronger.

conclusionsCOVID-19 exposure with reported changes in hearing sensitivity in IMHL patients resulted in pro-inflammatory responses in response to spike protein. The inflammatory responses were greatest in AIED patients, and greater following infection rather than vaccination. Therefore, based on these studies, we would recommend AIED patients take additional precautions to avoid COVID exposure. Furthermore, we do recommend COVID vaccination during periods of hearing stability, as the immune responses are even more robust in response to infection in this vulnerable group.

Indexed as

COVID-19Hearing Loss, SensorineuralInterleukin-1betaLeukocytes, MononuclearSARS-CoV-2Spike Glycoprotein, CoronavirusAdultAgedFemaleHumansInflammationMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsIL1B protein, humanInterleukin-1betaSpike Glycoprotein, Coronavirusspike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID40329195
PMCPMC12056982

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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.