Spike Protein Function: The Hidden Key to Understanding COVID-19's Vascular Impact

For months, researchers have been studying the ways in which SARS-CoV-2 affects the human body. While it was known that the virus targeted the respiratory system, a new study has shed light on the crucial role of the spike protein in causing vascular damage.

Scientists at the University of California San Diego and the Salk Institute have made groundbreaking discoveries regarding the spike protein's function. Their research reveals that this protein plays a key role in damaging vascular endothelial cells, a process previously suspected but never fully understood.

The study, published in Circulation Research on April 30, 2021, confirms COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease, demonstrating exactly how the virus damages and attacks the vascular system at a cellular level. The researchers used a combination of experiments and observations to show that the spike protein causes increased mitochondrial fragmentation in vascular cells.

The findings have significant implications for our understanding of the virus's effects on the human body. 'A lot of people think of it as a respiratory disease, but it's really a vascular disease,' says Assistant Research Professor Uri Manor, co-senior author of the study.

This research helps explain COVID-19's wide variety of seemingly unrelated complications, from strokes to issues in other parts of the body. The paper also opens the door for new research into more effective therapies, highlighting the importance of targeting the spike protein in the development of treatments.

The collaboration between Salk researchers and scientists at UC San Diego has yielded significant results, providing a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the spike protein damages vascular cells for the first time. The study's co-first author, Jiao Zhang, and co-senior authors John Shyy and Uri Manor are all experts in their respective fields, with a common focus on vascular biology.

In conclusion, this groundbreaking research highlights the critical role of the spike protein in understanding COVID-19's impact on the human body. The study's findings have significant implications for our approach to treating and preventing the disease, and will likely spark further investigation into the virus's mechanisms.

Spike protein function