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Scientists have discovered a mutation in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease, that plays a key role in its ability to infect the central nervous system, News.ro reported.
The findings could help scientists understand the neurological symptoms and conditions of “long COVID” and could lead to specific treatments to protect and clear the virus from the brain in the future. A recent collaborative study by scientists at Northwestern University (NU) and the University of Illinois at Chicago revealed a series of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (the part of the virus that helps it enter cells) that enhance the virus’ ability to infect the brains of mice. “By examining the genomes of the viruses found in the brain and comparing them to the genomes of the viruses found in the lungs, we found that those with a specific deletion (a type of genetic mutation characterized by the removal of a segment from the chromosome) in the spike protein were much more effective,” corresponding author Judd Hultquist, professor of medicine and an expert in infectious diseases and microbial immunology at the NU School of Medicine, said in a statement. The study was published Friday in the journal Nature Microbiology.
Changes in the spike protein help the virus infect different cells in the body. For this study, the researchers infected mice with SARS-CoV-2 and sequenced the genomes of the virus that replicated in the brain and lungs. In the lungs, the spike protein looked very similar to the virus used to infect the mice. However, in the brain, most of the viruses had a deletion or mutation in a key area of the spike protein that determines how the virus enters cells. When the virus with this deletion directly infected the mouse brain, it was essentially repaired when it migrated to the lungs. “In order for the virus to spread from the lungs to the brain, changes need to be made to the spike protein, which is known to dictate how the virus enters different types of cells,” Hotquist explained.
She added: “We believe this region in the spike is a key signal as to whether the virus has entered the brain and could have major implications for the treatment and management of neurological symptoms reported by patients with Covid-19.” Secondary symptoms SARS-CoV-2 has long been associated with a variety of neurological symptoms, such as loss of smell and taste, “brain fog” and “long Covid.” “It is not yet clear whether the prolonged duration of Covid-19 is caused by direct infection of brain cells or by an adverse immune response that persists after infection,” Hultquist noted. “If it is caused by infection of CNS cells, our study suggests there may be specific treatments that may be better than others at eliminating the virus from this region,” the researcher added.
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