LOCO-PIN: Long COVID pneumological, immunological and neurological investigation of novel treatment options
Project leader: Prof. Dr. med. Tobias Welte
Key area
- Pathophysiology: immunmodulation and immune control
Who is involved?
- Prof. Dr. med. Tobias Welte (Project leader, MHH)
- Prof. Dr. Christine Falk (MHH)
- Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Blaschke (UMG)
- Prof. Dr. med. Günter Höglinger (MHH)
- Dr. med. Tobias Overbeck (UMG)
- Prof. Dr. med. Antje Prasse (MHH)
Cooperation partners:
Prof. Dr. Marius Höper (MHH), Prof. Dr. med. Georg Behrens (MHH), Dr. med. Cordula Buck (UMG), Dr. Nora Drick (MHH), PD Dr. Dr. Gunilla Einecke (MHH), Prof. Dr. Reinhold Förster (MHH), Prof. Dr. med. Jens Gottlieb (MHH), Dr. med. Justin Hasenkamp (UMG), PD Dr. med. Franziska Hopfner (MHH), Prof. Dr. med. Danny Jonigk (MHH), PD Dr. med. Adelheid Niehaus (MHH), Prof. Dr. Thomas Pietschmann (TWINCORE), Dr. med. Isabell Pink (MHH), Dr. Dr. Michael Stadler (MHH), PD Dr. med. Richard Taubert (MHH), Prof. Dr. Inga Zerr (UMG), Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig (MHH), Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Michael Marschollek (MHH) , Prof. Dr. Dagmar Krefting (UMG), Prof. Dr. med. Tibor Kesztyues (UMG), Prof. Dr. Thomas Giese (UKHD), PD Dr. Michael Neuenhahn (TUM)
What is the aim?
Following COVID-19 disease, about 10-15% of recovered patients are still suffering from persisting symptoms even more than 6 months after acute infection, referred to as long COVID. Pulmonary impairment, fatigue, neurocognitive impairment, orthostatic and exercise intolerance are among the most frequent symptoms in these patients. Due to the complexity and individual variation of the long COVID symptoms there are currently no established diagnostics and specific treatment concepts.
An interdisciplinary team of experts in the fields of pneumology, internal and intensive care medicine, neurology and immunology performs comprehensive pneumological, immunological and neurological examinations on long COVID patients to establish improved diagnostics, comprehensive clinical, molecular and immunological phenotyping, and to develop the guidelines paving the way for conducting clinical trials.
The main goal of the joint Project LOCO-PIN is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of long COVID. Based on the long COVID patient cohorts at MHH and UMG, the objectives for this interdisciplinary project are: (1) Establishment of a clinical classification system for long COVID patients in order to develop tailored treatment strategies, (2) Determination of their immunological profile, comprising cellular and humoral immunity, including SARS-COV-2-specific T and B cell responses as well as known autoantibodies to subcellular structures (ANA, ANCA) and the impact of COVID-19 vaccination (3) Definition of long-term consequences of natural SARS- CoV-2 infection for the immunocompetence and neurocognitive functions (4) Definition of the potential benefit of vaccination of long COVID patients in comparison to immunocompromised, i.e. hematological, oncological, immunosuppressed, transplanted patients and immunocompetent i.e. healthy control individuals.