Nechipurenko YD, Anashkina AA, Matveeva OV. Change of Antigenic Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 Virus S-Protein as a Possible Cause of Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Virus Infection and Cytokine Storm.
Biophysics (Nagoya-shi) 2020;
65:703-709. [PMID:
33100352 PMCID:
PMC7569100 DOI:
10.1134/s0006350920040119]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A hypothesis is proposed that the cytokine storm syndrome, which complicates COVID-19 in some patients, is a consequence of antibody-dependent enhancement of virus infection, which is in turn happens due to a change in dominant antigenic determinants of SARS-CoV-2 S-protein. The antibody-dependent enhancement of virus infection is a phenomenon in which virus-specific antibodies that are not neutralizing enhance the entry of infectious virus into immune cells causing their death. Antibody-dependent enhancement has been reported for different coronaviruses. This phenomenon happens due to a decrease in the binding strength of neutralizing antibodies to the virus, which converts these antibodies into suboptimal-not neutralizing ones. According to our hypothesis, such a decrease in affinity may be associated with a change in the conformation of the viral S-protein. We believe that this conformational change is the major factor in the switching of antibodies affinity, which triggers antibody-dependent enhancement. However, other factors that contribute to antigen drift and antigenic determinant changes may also play a role.
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