Laboratory Biomarkers in the Clinical Management of COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Conditions

Dear Colleagues,

During the COVID-19 pandemic, laboratory diagnostics created a considerable impact for i) the diagnosis of diseases, ii) the guidance of infected patients, and iii) the monitoring of the immune response after infection and vaccination. In everyday clinical diagnostics and in well-defined clinical trials, an enormous amount of data were collected that were helpful for the management of the pandemic and that still provide a lot of valuable insights for the preparation for new viral pandemics in the future. Thereby, the value of well-established laboratory parameters and the value of new molecular approaches for the characterization of the disease have been uncovered. However, a thoroughful evaluation of the abundant laboratory data is still ongoing in many places and deserves a platform for its focussed presentation. Therefore the aim of this Special Issue is to provide a comprehensive overview of studies on diagnostic markers that have shown great value for i) the early and accurate molecular diagnosis of the SARS CoV-2 virus via the use of diverse methods; ii) the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease and the estimation of the prognosis for the outcome of patients, particularly patients with diverse comorbidities; iii) the monitoring of disease courses and the early idenfitication of severe complications; iv) the time-related immune response to SARS CoV-2 infection; v) the humoral and cellular immune responses after the administration of diverse vaccinations in relation to predisposition, comorbidities, and side effects; vi) the identification of possible correlates of protection (COP) or predictions of risk (POR) for severe disease courses to define the period for timely booster vaccination; and finally, vii) the characterization of pathophysiological mechanisms that underly the development of long-COVID and biomarkers that support the prognosis and guidance of affected patients. Therefore, lab doctors, pathologists, researchers, and clinicians are encouraged to submit their findings as original articles or reviews to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Holdenrieder
Prof. Dr. Perikles Simon
Guest Editors

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