Research of Spiked Protein Induces Endothelial Inflammation

This article discusses how the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 can induce endothelial cell inflammation, which may lead to severe symptoms in COVID-19 patients. The authors conducted experiments to verify this hypothesis and proposed that the Spike protein may be one of the reasons for severe symptoms in COVID-19 patients.

In the article, the authors first introduced the importance of endothelial cells in maintaining systemic homeostasis. Then, they proposed a hypothesis that the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 can induce endothelial cell inflammation and further explored the mechanism of this phenomenon.

The authors conducted multiple experiments to verify their hypothesis. One experiment involved incubating human vascular endothelial cells with complete Spike protein and observing increased NF-κB nuclear translocation and gene expression, as well as peripheral blood leukocyte adhesion and increased permeability of endothelial cell monolayers. In addition, activation of integrin α5β1 prevented these effects.

The authors also conducted other experiments, including using mouse models and human pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Through these experiments, they found that the Spike protein can induce RhoA family activation, CD31 redistribution, actin stress fiber formation, eNOS phosphorylation, and other reactions through integrin α5β1 binding, leading to endothelial cell inflammation.

The conclusion of the article is that the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 can induce endothelial cell inflammation, which may lead to severe symptoms in COVID-19 patients. This finding is important for our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment methods of COVID-19.

The first author of this article is Juan Pablo Robles et al., from the Neurobiology Research Institute at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The reference list cites several other related articles from well-known journals such as Lancet and Circulation Research. Therefore, these references have a high degree of credibility.

In summary, this article verifies through experiments the hypothesis that the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 induces endothelial cell inflammation and proposes that it may be one of the reasons for severe symptoms in COVID-19 patients. This finding is important for our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment methods of COVID-19.