Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Persistent Intestinal Epithelial Syndrome (SPIES) as a Novel Disease Entity using Clinical, Histologic, and RNA Programmatic Data

Abstract Long COVID (LC) remains an ongoing issue and one which has created a substantial burden of disease. Gastrointestinal LC is relatively poorly understood. In this study we characterize a syndrome of persistent SARS-CoV2 viral material via clinical and histologic data, and RNA sequencing Methods We reviewed patients aged 5-22 years with an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms from 6/2020-6/2023, excluding patients with known histologic disease. Biopsies were sent for immunohistochemical staining. Clinical data was collected. Duodenal, ileal, cecal, and sigmoid colon samples were stained for SARS-CoV-2 using a SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody. Slides were reviewed by a blinded pathologist. 8 patients with known duodenal SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen (SC-NA) positivity and 8 demographically matched IBS matched patients from prior to 2020 were identified for RNA sequencing comparison. Results were compared with public data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data repository for intestinal tissue with IBS and epithelial tissues with active SARS-CoV2 infection. Results Of 30 patients, fifteen (50%) were identified to have positive SC-NA . 3 (20%) had received at least a single SARS-CoV2 vaccine in the + cohort, and 8 (53.3%) in the - (P=0.05). Primary symptoms were pain (86%, nausea (66.6%), and weight loss (60%). 37.5% of patients with colonic SC-NA displayed hematochezia. 33% of + patients showed elevated ESR/CRP. Mean + calprotectin was 317.3 vs. 156.4 (p=0.2). 11/15 (73.3%) +SC-NA had large lymphoid aggregates (LLA) (p = 0.00338). RNA expression was consistent with known acute SARS-CoV2 infection. Hub network analysis showed a tight shift in RNA expression centered around HSPE-1p26, with involvement of known SARS-CoV2 immune mediators like NEAT1. DGE comparative analysis with IBS and acute SARS-CoV2 infection showed higher overlap with acute infection vs. IBS. FGSEA analysis with the same source data demonstrated the same. Conclusions Our findings establish a syndrome mediated by persistent viral infection (SARS-CoV2 Persistent Intestinal Epithelial Syndrome (SPIES)). We hypothesize that persistent sparse infection drives ongoing immune signaling altering movement and function, creating epithelial and movement effects overlapping with DGBI and IBD