Previous studies have shown a similar effect when cells were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this is the first study to show that the damage occurs when cells are exposed to the spike protein on its own. This binding disrupted ACE2’s molecular signaling to mitochondria (organelles that generate energy for cells), causing the mitochondria to become damaged and fragmented. They showed that the spike protein damaged the cells by binding ACE2. The team then replicated this process in the lab, exposing healthy endothelial cells (which line arteries) to the spike protein. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model-proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. In the new study, the researchers created a “pseudovirus” that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins, but did not contain any actual virus. Similarly, scientists studying other coronaviruses have long suspected that the spike protein contributed to damaging vascular endothelial cells, but this is the first time the process has been documented. There’s been a growing consensus that SARS-CoV-2 affects the vascular system, but exactly how it did so was not understood.

While the findings themselves aren’t entirely a surprise, the paper provides clear confirmation and a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the protein damages vascular cells for the first time. Salk researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of California San Diego on the paper, including co-first author Jiao Zhang and co-senior author John Shyy, among others. The commonality between them is that they all have vascular underpinnings.” “That could explain why some people have strokes, and why some people have issues in other parts of the 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, who is co-senior author of the study. Representative images of vascular endothelial control cells (left) and cells treated with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (right) show that the spike protein causes increased mitochondrial fragmentation in vascular cells. The findings help explain COVID-19’s wide variety of seemingly unconnected complications, and could open the door for new research into more effective therapies. The paper, published on April 30, 2021, in Circulation Research, also shows conclusively that COVID-19 is a vascular disease, demonstrating exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages and attacks the vascular system on a cellular level. Now, a major new study shows that the virus spike proteins (which behave very differently than those safely encoded by vaccines) also play a key role in the disease itself.

LA JOLLA-Scientists have known for a while that SARS-CoV-2’s distinctive “spike” proteins help the virus infect its host by latching on to healthy cells. Salk researchers and collaborators show how the protein damages cells, confirming COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease April 30, 2021 ApThe novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness

German spike protein