Home » today » Health » COVID-19 is a vascular disease: spike protein attacks blood vessels at the cellular level, study finds | Science and Ecology | DW
COVID-19 is a vascular disease: spike protein attacks blood vessels at the cellular level, study finds | Science and Ecology | DW
The spike proteins that the coronavirus uses to help it penetrate cells also inflict other damage, according to a new study that highlights the many ways that COVID-19 attacks organs other than the lungs.
The spike proteins themselves cause direct damage to the cells that line blood vessels, scientists found in experiments conducted in test tubes with a modified version of the spike and cells that line the arteries obtained from mice.
After attaching itself to the ACE2 protein in healthy cells, the spike interrupts ACE2 signaling to the mitochondria – the energy-generating structures of the cell -, causing them to become damaged, the researchers reported in Circulation Research.
“A vascular disease”
COVID-19 is actually a disease of the blood vessels, co-author Uri Manor of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, said in a statement.
“Many people think it is a respiratory disease, but it is actually a vascular disease,” said Professor Manor.
The new findings could help explain blood clots associated with COVID-19. They could also explain “why some people have strokes and why others have problems in other parts of the body,” Manor said. “What they have in common is that they all have a vascular background.”
The Salk researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of California, San Diego on the work, including first author, Jiao Zhang, and second author, John Shyy, among others.
Although the findings in themselves are not entirely a surprise, the article provides clear confirmation and a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the protein damages vascular cells for the first time.
There is a growing consensus that SARS-CoV-2 affects the vascular system, but exactly how it did this was not known. Similarly, scientists studying other coronaviruses have long suspected that the spike protein contributes to damage to vascular endothelial cells, but this is the first time the process has been documented.
FEW (Reuters, Circulation Research)
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India reported more than 3,200 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday (04.28.2021), the highest number in a single day since the pandemic began. The total death toll exceeds 200,000, with cities no longer having space to bury or incinerate the victims.
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The darkest days of the pandemic in India
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The darkest days of the pandemic in India
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The darkest days of the pandemic in India
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The darkest days of the pandemic in India
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The darkest days of the pandemic in India
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