{"id":3080,"date":"2021-10-13T12:23:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T11:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/biosciences\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2021-09-28T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T11:24:02","slug":"new-potential-factor-contributing-to-severity-of-covid-19-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/biosciences\/2021\/10\/13\/new-potential-factor-contributing-to-severity-of-covid-19-identified\/","title":{"rendered":"New potential factor contributing to severity of COVID-19 identified"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kent\u2019s\u00a0School of Biosciences<\/a>\u00a0and the Institute of Medical Virology at\u00a0Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main<\/a>, have identified a protein that may critically contribute to severe forms of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. While many individuals develop only mild or no symptoms upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, others develop severe, life-threatening disease.<\/p>\n

Researchers have found that the infection of cells with SARS-CoV-2 results in increased levels of a protein called CD47 on the cell surface.<\/p>\n

CD47 is a so-called \u2018do not eat me\u2019 signal to the immune system\u2019s defences that protect cells from being destroyed. Virus-induced CD47 on the surface of infected cells is likely to protect them from immune system recognition, enabling the production of larger amounts of virus, resulting in more severe disease.<\/p>\n

Well-known risk factors for severe COVID-19 such as older age and diabetes are associated with higher CD47 levels. High CD47 levels also contribute to high blood pressure, which is a large risk factor for COVID-19 complications such as heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease.<\/p>\n

The data suggest that age and virus-induced high CD47 levels contribute to severe COVID-19 by preventing an effective immune response and increasing disease-associated tissue and organ damage.<\/p>\n

Since therapeutics targeting CD47 are in development, this discovery may result in improved COVID-19 therapies.<\/p>\n

Professor Martin Michaelis<\/a>\u00a0of Kent\u2019s School of Biosciences\u00a0said: \u2018This is exciting. We may have identified a major factor associated with severe COVID-19. This is a huge step in combatting the disease and we can now look forward to further progress in the design of therapeutics.\u2019<\/p>\n

Professor Jindrich Cinatl of Goethe-University Frankfurt, said: \u2018These additional insights into the disease processes underlying COVID-19 may help us to design better therapies, as well as appreciation for the importance of the breadth of research being conducted. Through this avenue, we have achieved a major breakthrough and exemplified that the fight against the disease continues.\u2019<\/p>\n

The study \u2018A potential role of the CD47-SIRPalpha axis in COVID-19 pathogenesis<\/em><\/a>\u2019 is published by the scientific journal\u00a0Current Issues in Molecular Biology<\/em>\u00a0(Katie-May McLaughlin, Dr Mark Wass, Professor Martin Michaelis \u2013 University of Kent; Dr Denisa Bojkova, Marco Bechtel, Joshua D. Kandler, Philipp Reus, Trang Le, Dr Julian U. G. Wagner, Professor Sandra Ciesek, Professor Jindrich Cinatl \u2013 Goethe University Frankfurt).<\/p>\n

URL:\u00a0https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1467-3045\/43\/3\/86<\/a><\/p>\n

DOI:\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/cimb43030086<\/a><\/p>\n