Covid-19 virus may cause your body to make autoantibodies and attack itself

In the new study, Stanford University found that 50 per cent of people hospitalised for Covid-19 infections had autoantibodies, compared to less than 15 per cent in those without the infection.

The SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, has the potential to affect multiple organs in the body. But how the virus does this is still a puzzle, and scientists and medical professionals around the world are coming up with different theories. The latest one is from Stanford University researchers, who are suggesting that the Covid-19 virus may cause the body to attack itself.

According to their theory, the novel coronavirus may prompt the body's immune system to make autoantibodies that can go rogue and launch an attack against the body's own tissues.

Their theory is based on the findings of a study that included more than 300 Covid-19 patients. Using blood tests, the researchers studied the patient's immune responses as the viral infections progressed, specially looking for autoantibodies. They then compared these autoantibodies to those found in people who were not tested positive for Covid-19.

Previous studies have also shown that autoantibodies are more common in people with Covid-19 infection. In the new study, Stanford University found that 50 per cent of people hospitalised for Covid-19 infections had autoantibodies, compared to less than 15 per cent in those without the infection.

In some patients, the autoantibodies became more common as the infection progressed, suggesting that the viral infection might be directly causing autoimmunity, instead of being a pre-existing condition.

Some of these antibodies can attack key components of the immune system's weapons against the virus, like interferon, said the researchers.

Interferons are proteins that can also interfere with a virus's ability to copy itself as well as help infected cells call for reinforcements.

The researcher noted that their finding, preprinted in medRxiv, could help unlock a number of Covid-19's clinical mysteries.

Covid-19 virus mutates too

A big concern among researchers is that the SARS-CoV-2 virus appears to be mutating fast and that may reduce the effectiveness of the current vaccines. Several variants of the novel coronavirus have been detected with some found to be more contagious than the original virus strain that started the COVID-19 outbreak. Particularly, three new variants B.1.1.7 (first found in the UK); B.1.351 (first detected in South Africa) and the variant called P.1 from Brazil have grabbed the attention of the researchers. Not only UK Covid-19 variant is said to be more infectious, but emerging evidence suggest that it may lead to higher degree of mortality.

Meanwhile, the global number of COVID-19 cases has reached 103,201,340 including 2,237,636 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). United States of America is the worst affected country, followed the India (10,766,245) and Brazil (9,229,322).

With inputs from IANS