Husna, Amity University Kolkata
As the world is waiting anxiously for a powerful and effective vaccine against covid-19, researchers are also trying to identify how coronavirus attacks the body to stop its devastating impact. One such possible way has been discovered in a recent study by researchers of John Hopkins University. This can be done by blocking a particular protein which enables the virus to turn the immune system against healthy cells of our body.
The protein is known as Factor D which on inhibition will also reduce the deadly inflammatory responses that numerous patients get on being infected. The SARS-CoV-2 virus attaches to a healthy targeted cell of the body to cause infection using the spike proteins present on its surface. The spikes do this by seizing heparan sulphate which is a complex sugar molecule found on cell-surface of lungs, blood vessels and smooth muscles as a result of which Factor H is prevented from using sugar molecule to bind with cells. Factor H regulates the chemical signals that trigger inflammation thus preventing the immune system from harming healthy cells. Without this protection, the lungs, heart, kidneys and other organs will be destroyed by the defence mechanism of our body. The SARS-CoV-2 virus activates a cascading series of biological reactions known as an alternative pathway of complement (APC) when it ties with heparan sulphate which results in inflammation and cell destruction if misread by the immune system.
So, the research team used normal human blood serum and three sub-units of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to find exactly how the virus activates APC, hijacks the immune system and destroys normal cells. They discovered that S1 and S2 sub-units bind virus to heparan sulphate leading to activation of APC cascade and blockage of Factor H due to which Factor H confers a misdirected immune response. Further, they found that upon blocking another complement protein Factor D, which works immediately upstream within the pathway from Factor H, they were able to stop the destructive chain of events triggered by SARS-CoV-2.
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The description is so clear & precise. MashaAllah. Thankyou Husna! We all are desperately waiting & praying for an effective vaccine to be produced.