SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Human Proteins
T he emergence and rapid outbreak of a novel coronavirus, namely, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in China in 2019, caused a global pandemic, which is popularly known as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19). Some of the common symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, fever, loss of taste/smell, and shortness of breath. Additionally, many individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 remain asymptomatic. However, some COVID-19 patients experience more severe complications including thrombosis, myocarditis, and thrombocytopenia. Scientists identified molecular mimicry hotspots in the S region. They revealed the presence of molecular mimics with a high autoimmune potential in clusters within the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. Researchers observed that some clusters contained many molecular mimics whose motifs are found in human proteins. Molecular mimics present in the α-helices exhibited higher structural similarity based on the normal conformation of the hel