The scientists of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in partnership with the scientists of the Biological Institute in Nes Ziona, revealed how a unique combination of three mechanisms allows the corona virus to escape the immune system
Severe cases of corona, which may end in death, are not caused by direct damage caused by the world-famous virus, but by a disproportionate response of our immune system. Scientists hypothesized that the stormy immune response is due to the ability of the corona to operate in the initial stages of infection below the radar of the body's systems; This is how the virus replicates itself in impressive numbers, and when it is discovered at a later stage - the reaction is powerful and sometimes even fatal. In a new study, Which was published in the scientific journal Nature, Weizmann Institute of Science scientists and their research partners at the Benes Ziona Biological Institute reveal how the virus evades the immune system through three molecular mechanisms that allow it to quickly take over the cell's protein production system, prevent the immune system from calling out and multiply unhindered. This threefold strategy may explain how this particular virus causes one of the greatest epidemics in human history.
"Most of the research so far has focused on specific proteins of the corona virus and their functional characterization. But there was not enough information about what actually happens in the infected cells themselves," she says Dr. Noam Stern-Ginosar from the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute, whose group is a member of the research groups of Dr. Nir Faran and Dr. Tomer Israeli from the biological institute To reveal what happens in the body's cells after the virus invades. To this end, the researchers infected human cells with corona in the laboratory and checked what happens in them in terms of gene expression and protein production.
When viruses enter our body, our cells express antiviral genes in response - some will serve as a first line of defense against the virus, while others will alert neighboring cells about the invaders and mobilize the cells of the immune system. To succeed in this, the cell needs free access to its ribosomes - the protein production factories. In the new study, the researchers revealed how the corona works quickly and takes over within a few hours the cell's ability to produce proteins while neutralizing the anti-viral signaling mechanism and disrupting the immune response. According to the new findings, the virus succeeds in this with the help of three separate, but complementary arms: the first arm allows the virus to bring about a general reduction in the cell's ability to produce proteins, while the second arm actively and selectively breaks down the cell's messenger RNA molecules - the molecules that carry the recipes for the production of proteins; At this time the viral messenger RNA molecules remain intact and continue on their way to the production lines. The third arm revealed in the study is the ability of the virus to block the exit from the cell nucleus of new RNA molecules produced in response to the viral invasion. This prevents the cell from being able to act against the virus and call for help from the outside.
"The corona virus implements a three-fold strategy, which is apparently unique to it, in order to effectively take over the cell's protein production capabilities," explains Dr. Stern-Ginoser. "In this way, the first line of defense against the virus is not launched at all - and this is the reason for the significant delay in the immune system's response, which may later lead to a stormy and disproportionate response." The good news is that researchers have identified the viral proteins involved in these mechanisms - findings that hold opportunities for the development of new and more effective treatments against the corona virus.
Yara Finkel, Avi Gluck, Aharon Nachshon, Dr. Roni Winkler, Tal Fisher, Bat-Sheva Rozman, Dr. Oral Mizrahi and Dr. Michal Schwartz from Dr. Stern-Ginosar's group also participated in the study; Dr. Yoav Lubalsky and Benjamin Zuckerman from Prof. Igor Olitsky's group in the Department of Biological Control; Dr. Boris Slobodin from the Department of Biomolecular Sciences - as well as Dr. Yifat Yahlom-Ronen and Dr. Hadas Tamir from the Israel Research Institute for Biological, Chemical and Environmental Sciences.
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