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From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of molecular mimicry in the cytokine storms associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Human proteins endowed with anti-inflammatory activity were assembled and analyzed for peptide sharing with the SARS-CoV-2 spike...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Kanduc, Darja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34698069
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antib10040036
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author Kanduc, Darja
author_facet Kanduc, Darja
author_sort Kanduc, Darja
collection PubMed
description The aim of this study was to investigate the role of molecular mimicry in the cytokine storms associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Human proteins endowed with anti-inflammatory activity were assembled and analyzed for peptide sharing with the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (gp) using public databases. It was found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike gp shares numerous pentapeptides with anti-inflammatory proteins that, when altered, can lead to cytokine storms characterized by diverse disorders such as systemic multiorgan hyperinflammation, macrophage activation syndrome, ferritinemia, endothelial dysfunction, and acute respiratory syndrome. Immunologically, many shared peptides are part of experimentally validated epitopes and are also present in pathogens to which individuals may have been exposed following infections or vaccinal routes and of which the immune system has stored memory. Such an immunologic imprint might trigger powerful anamnestic secondary cross-reactive responses, thus explaining the raging of the cytokine storm that can occur following exposure to SARS-CoV-2. In conclusion, the results support molecular mimicry and the consequent cross-reactivity as a potential mechanism in SARS-CoV-2-induced cytokine storms, and highlight the role of immunological imprinting in determining high-affinity, high-avidity, autoimmune cross-reactions as a pathogenic sequela associated with anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
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spelling pubmed-85442102021-10-26 From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry Kanduc, Darja Antibodies (Basel) Article The aim of this study was to investigate the role of molecular mimicry in the cytokine storms associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Human proteins endowed with anti-inflammatory activity were assembled and analyzed for peptide sharing with the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (gp) using public databases. It was found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike gp shares numerous pentapeptides with anti-inflammatory proteins that, when altered, can lead to cytokine storms characterized by diverse disorders such as systemic multiorgan hyperinflammation, macrophage activation syndrome, ferritinemia, endothelial dysfunction, and acute respiratory syndrome. Immunologically, many shared peptides are part of experimentally validated epitopes and are also present in pathogens to which individuals may have been exposed following infections or vaccinal routes and of which the immune system has stored memory. Such an immunologic imprint might trigger powerful anamnestic secondary cross-reactive responses, thus explaining the raging of the cytokine storm that can occur following exposure to SARS-CoV-2. In conclusion, the results support molecular mimicry and the consequent cross-reactivity as a potential mechanism in SARS-CoV-2-induced cytokine storms, and highlight the role of immunological imprinting in determining high-affinity, high-avidity, autoimmune cross-reactions as a pathogenic sequela associated with anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. MDPI 2021-09-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8544210/ /pubmed/34698069 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antib10040036 Text en © 2021 by the author. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kanduc, Darja
From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title_full From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title_fullStr From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title_full_unstemmed From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title_short From Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response to the Cytokine Storm via Molecular Mimicry
title_sort from anti-sars-cov-2 immune response to the cytokine storm via molecular mimicry
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34698069
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antib10040036
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