Research study shows auto immune conditions on post SARS-COV-2 infection.
Asiya S
Transmission electron micrograph of Avian coronavirus | credits: Wikipedia
India is badly affected by the second wave of Covid-19 virus leading to more than 4,000 deaths in a day. In a research study on role of auto antibodies in multi-organ damage occurring post SARS-COV-2 infection by a team of Dr. Vani Janakiraman from the department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, Ms. Mugdha Mohkhedkar (an undergraduate student) and Mr. Siva Sai Krishna Venigalla (pursuing PhD at UT South Western) found that the virus affects our immune system leading to neurological and thrombotic conditions. It is the presence of some novel kind of enemies which attack our body's own proteins thus causing auto immune diseases.
The study shows that Covid-19 is more than just a respiratory disease. It affects our immune system and leads to neurological and thrombotic conditions where disorders affecting the brain, nerves and spinal cord are classified as neurological disorders while thrombosis occurs when blood clots to block the blood vessels.
Our immunity system is made up of special cells, organs and proteins that fight against harmful substances, foreign microbes and cellular changes in order to protect our body from infections and diseases. When our body encounters any such harmful substances called antigens, antibodies are produced in our body to resist and destroy those antigens. Our immune system can also remember to produce these antibodies whenever it encounters this antigen thus reducing the chance to be affected again.
According to the study, patients affected with SARS-COV-2 develops certain antibodies to overcome the disease in which some of them acts as autoantibodies. These autoantibodies attack autoantigens which are the useful proteins present in our body.
Another reason for this condition according to the study is molecular mimicry which occurs when the virus's epitopes are similar to proteins present in our body. This can lead to autoantibodies attacking similar human proteins.
The team had found four human proteins that mimics the viral epitopes of COVID-19 - HSP90AB1, HSPA5, Titin and Ryanodine receptor 2. These autoantigens can attack the patient's immune system, eye nerves, spinal cord and can also have neuromuscular disease which leads to skeletal muscle weakness.
The study was conducted by creating a library of known epitopes of SARS-COV-2 and by comparing it with human proteins using tools like BLASTp (Protein Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) and Open Target Platform, said Ms Mugdha.
The team says that this study can help in the management and understanding of autoimmune reactions during post SARS-COV-2 infection. It can also help to remove undesirable autoimmune constituents from vaccines to avoid consequences of vaccination. It could also facilitate the quality aspects of Plasma Therapy, and monitoring of multi organ manifestations of Covid-19.