“Notably, we also found that activation of RAAS caused substantial damage to the lymph nodes, which hasn't been shown in COVID-19 before," said Beheshti, who is also director of McGowan's Center for Space Biomedicine . "This could explain the long-lasting immune dysregulation seen in survivors of COVID-19 and may contribute to long COVID."

It's also possible that damage to lymph nodes could impair the immune system's ability to detect and destroy cancerous cells, which could potentially help explain the post-pandemic increase in cancer cases.”