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SARS-CoV-2: The Self-Nonself Issue and Diagnostic Tests

Objective  At present, false negatives/positives have been reported in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnostics. Searching for the molecular basis of such tests' unreliability, this study aimed at defining how specific are the sequences used in serological and po...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Kanduc, Darja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2022
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10104719/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37064977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-1750078
Descripción
Sumario:Objective  At present, false negatives/positives have been reported in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnostics. Searching for the molecular basis of such tests' unreliability, this study aimed at defining how specific are the sequences used in serological and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to detect SARS-CoV-2. Materials and Methods  Analyses were performed on the leading SARS-CoV-2 biomarker spike glycoprotein (gp). Sharing of peptide sequences between the spike antigen and the human host was analyzed using the Peptide Search program from Uniprot database. Sharing of oligonucleotide sequences was investigated using the nucleotide Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTn) from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Results  Two main points stand out: (1) a massive pentapeptide sharing exists between the spike gp and the human proteome, and only a limited number of pentapeptides (namely 107) identify SARS-CoV-2 spike gp as nonself when compared with the human proteome, and (2) the small phenetic difference practically disappears at the genetic level. Indeed, almost all of the 107 pentadecameric nucleotide sequences coding for the pentapeptides unique to SARS-CoV-2 spike gp are present in human nucleic acids too. Conclusion  The data are of immunological significance for defining the issue of the viral versus human specificity and likely explain the fact that false positives can occur in serological and PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 detection.