Our own body can be the greatest ally of the coronavirus. For months, it has been known that death from Covid-19 is caused by an uncontrolled response of our own immune system when trying to fight the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Now a new study has shown the weight that a type of antibodies generated by some patients could have in hampering the immune response and even in the sequelae that the disease has left in many people months after overcoming the infection.
According to the study, not yet peer-reviewed, published this Saturday on the portal medRxiv, certain autoantibodies -a type of antibodies developed by the immune system to act specifically against a specific antigen- generated during a Covid infection and aimed at attacking type I interferon “disrupt the immune response and they alter the virological control ”of our body.
“People who have them are unable to control viral load compared to those who do not have them,” explained Professor Akiko Iwasaki, one of the participants in the research, through her Twitter account.
“There are many unanswered questions. How long do these autoantibodies last, what damage do they produce, how are they induced, do they occur in long-term Covid? ”Added Dr. Iwasaki.
New exciting collaboration work with @Aaronmring lab reveals diverse and functional autoantibodies in #COVID patients.
Our findings provide clues for why COVID affects many organs, induce range of symptoms that are long lasting.
Thread (1/n)https://t.co/q2ZsjtWiLD
– Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) December 12, 2020
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Using a method called Rapid Extracellular Antigen Assessment, researchers have found that a large portion of Covid-19 patients had autoantibodies to different antigens and that those who had passed the disease with more severe symptoms had more than the rest.
These autoantibodies are directed to a wide multiplicity of particles such as interferons, chemokines or cytokines, but those that seem to cause a problem in the body are those oriented towards type I interferons, a type of protein that helps regulate the activity of the immune system.
To finish validating their hypothesis, the scientists have induced a treatment of this type of autoantibody in mice and have determined that they also made them more susceptible to illness and death from Covid-19.
This is a discovery that could help explain the persistence of long-lasting sequelae in some patients who have already recovered from the infection. one of the even more unknown aspects of the disease which is causing the largest pandemic in a century.
Although it is still only a theory that needs to be tested, the persistence of these autoantibodies created during infection could continue to cause problems in the body even when there is no longer any trace of SARS-CoV-2.
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