London, Europe Brief News- The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spike protein is capable of causing heart muscle injury through the inflammatory process, a new study reveals.
Scientists believe they have identified why heart damage is so common among patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
The good news is that the preliminary research suggests the damage caused by the process, which is part of the heart muscle cells’ “own natural immune machinery” can be reduced by vaccination.
Research published in 2020 discovered abnormal changes to the way the heart was pumping in 55% of hospitalised patients, with around one in seven showing evidence of severe dysfunction.
“It’s already known from the clinical side that COVID-19 infection can induce heart injury, however, what we don’t know is the mechanistic details of how this occurs,” said Dr Zhiqiang Lin.
“What we suspect is that the spike protein has unknown pathological roles,” added Dr Lin, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor at the Masonic Medical Research Institute in Utica, New York.
“Our data show that the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 causes heart muscle damage. That’s why it’s important to get vaccinated and prevent this disease,” added Dr Lin.
They studied another coronavirus known as HCoV-NL63 which has a similar spike protein that also binds to the cell receptor ACE2 to help the virus break into cells.
But unlike with SARS-CoV-2, the NL63 spike protein does not trigger the natural immune response in heart muscle cells which can cause so much damage to the organ.
