Residual lung abnormality following COVID-19 hospitalisation is characterised by biomarkers of epithelial injury

EBioMedicine 2026 Open access

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Authors: Iain Stewart, Iain D. Stewart, Joseph Jacob, Joanna C. Porter, Bin Liu, Amanda L. Tatler, Nancy Gomez, Matthew R. Pugh, Alison E. John, RICHARD J. ALLEN, John F. Blaikley, Nazia Chaudhuri
+88 more Emma Kate Denneny, Laura Fabbri, Peter M. George, Beatriz Guillen-Guio, Bibek Gooptu, Ian P. Hall, Ling Pei Ho, Ian Jarrold, Simon Johnson, Mark G. Jones, Fasihul Khan, Puja Mehta, Jane Mitchell, Philip L. Molyneaux, John E. Pearl, Karen Piper Hanley, Manuela Platé, Valerie Quinn, Pilar Rivera‐Ortega, Laura C. Saunders, David J. F. Smith, Mark Spears, Lisa G. Spencer, Stefan C. Stanel, A.A. Roger Thompson, Simon J Walsh, Jim M. Wild, Dan Wootton, Annemarie B. Docherty, Fergus Gleeson, William Greenhalf, Ewen M. Harrison, Nazir Ahmad Lone, Jennifer Quint, Anastasia Maslova, Moritz Pohl, Adam Stephens, Simon Young, Amisha Singapuri, Aarti Shikotra, Marco Sereno, Ruth M. Saunders, Matthew Richardson, Betty Raman, Krisnah Poinasamy, Hamish J.C. McAuley, Michael Marks, Olivia C. Leavy, Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, Alex Robert Horsley, Victoria C. Harris, Neil J. Greening, Rachael A. Evans, Omer Elneima, James D. Chalmers, Christopher E. Brightling, Rachel C. Chambers, Louise V. Wain, R. Gisli Jenkins, K. Abel, H. Adamali, D. Adeloye, O. Adeyemi, R Adrego, L.A. Aguilar Jimenez, S. Ahmad, N. Ahmad Haider, R. Ahmed, N. Ahwireng, M. Ainsworth, B. Al-Sheklly, A. Alamoudi, M. Ali, M. Aljaroof, AM All, L. Allan, R.J. Allen, L. Allerton, L. Allsop, P. Almeida, D. Altmann, M. Alvarez Corral, S. Amoils, D. Anderson, C. Antoniades, G. Arbane, A. Arias, C. Armour
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106134
Cited by: 1
References: 40

Abstract

Background Long term respiratory symptoms are reported following recovery of acute COVID-19 infection and residual lung abnormalities (RLA) on follow-up thoracic computed tomography (CT) after COVID-19 hospitalisation have been observed. It is unknown whether RLA are associated with epithelial lung injury. Methods Plasma was sampled from the observational Post HOSPitalisation-COVID cohort at five months post-hospitalisation. Epithelial injury biomarkers Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP-7), surfactant protein-D (SP-D) and surfactant protein-A (SP-A) were assayed. In those without follow-up CT, RLA at-risk was defined by percent predicted DL CO

Fields of Study & Subjects

Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research

Publication details

Journal / source
EBioMedicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
124
Pages
106134–106134
Publication date
24 January 2026
Language
EN