Gülmez, Dilara, Siwy, Justyna, Kurz, Katharina et al. · Proteomics · 2026 · DOI
Researchers found a simple urine test that can accurately identify people with long COVID (PASC) by measuring tiny protein fragments in the urine. The test correctly identified long COVID patients 96% of the time compared to healthy people and those with ME/CFS. The urine signatures suggest that long COVID involves ongoing inflammation and changes in how the body breaks down and rebuilds connective tissue.
This study provides a potentially objective, non-invasive biomarker for PASC diagnosis that could reduce diagnostic uncertainty and symptom-reporting bias. The inclusion of ME/CFS patients as a control group helps clarify molecular differences between these conditions. The identification of specific molecular mechanisms (collagen dysregulation, inflammation) could guide targeted therapeutic development for long COVID and potentially inform understanding of related conditions like ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that the identified peptides cause long COVID symptoms, only that they correlate with PASC diagnosis. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish whether these peptide changes persist over time or precede symptom onset. Findings require prospective validation in larger, more diverse populations, and the clinical utility of the test depends on accessibility and cost-effectiveness in real-world settings.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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Primary citation
Gülmez, Dilara, Siwy, Justyna, Kurz, Katharina, Wendt, Ralph, Banasik, Miroslaw, Peters, Björn, et al. (2026). Urinary Peptidomic Profiling In Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Case-Control Study.. Proteomics. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.70074
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-glmez-2026-urinary-peptidomic,
author = {Gülmez, Dilara and Siwy, Justyna and Kurz, Katharina and Wendt, Ralph and Banasik, Miroslaw and Peters, Björn and Dudoignon, Emmanuel and Depret, Francois and Salgueira, Mercedes and Nowacki, Elena and Kurnikowski, Amelie and Mussnig, Sebastian and Krenn, Simon and Gonos, Samuel and Löffler-Ragg, Judith and Weiss, Günter and Mischak, Harald and Hecking, Manfred and Schernhammer, Eva and Beige, Joachim and UriCoV Working Group},
title = {Urinary Peptidomic Profiling In Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Case-Control Study.},
journal = {Proteomics},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1002/pmic.70074},
note = {PubMed: 41273049},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/glmez-2026-urinary-peptidomic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/glmez-2026-urinary-peptidomic
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