Study Reveals Spike Protein Changes Enhance Coronavirus's Ability to Infect the Brain
Recent research highlights significant findings regarding how changes in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, can influence its ability to infect the brain. According to a study published in *Nature Microbiology*, these changes might be linked to brain-related symptoms associated with the disease, including persistent brain fog seen in long COVID.
The spike protein plays a crucial role in how the virus enters and infects human cells. While the exact mechanisms underlying long COVID and its neurological symptoms remain unclear, this study provides new insights that could pave the way for targeted treatments to address brain infections caused by the virus.
Researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a UK institution conducted experiments involving mice infected with the coronavirus. By comparing the spike proteins of viruses found in the brain to those in the lungs, they discovered key differences. Specifically, the spike proteins in the brain exhibited mutations or deletions in regions crucial for cell entry, which were not present in the lung-infecting viruses.
Judd Hultquist, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University and a lead author of the study, explained that viruses with these specific spike protein alterations showed a higher capacity for infecting brain cells, while their ability to infect lung cells was reduced.
This discovery suggests that the spike protein is a significant factor in the virus’s ability to penetrate the central nervous system. The implications of this research could be substantial, potentially informing new treatments aimed at clearing the virus from the brain and addressing the neurological symptoms of COVID-19.
Hultquist noted that if long COVID symptoms are indeed a result of central nervous system infection, understanding these protein changes could lead to more effective therapies tailored to this specific aspect of the disease.
The study underscores the importance of ongoing research into the neurological impacts of COVID-19 and highlights how viral mutations can affect disease progression and symptomatology.