Israeli Researchers Discover COVID Protein Believed To Cause Heart Problems

by CrownHeights.info

We knew for a long time that COVID causes heart problems, and now we know why.

A group of researchers at Tel Aviv University decided to take a close look at the 29 proteins that make up the COVID-19 virus and dissect them, hoping to discover more about the virus.

“Coronavirus isn’t the purely respiratory disease we first thought,” Dr. Ben Maoz of Tel Aviv University said. “And we have identified the proteins that put patients at increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and other problems associated with the vascular system.”

According to their study, published in the journal eLife, they identified 5 of the proteins as being responsible for damaging blood vessels or the endothelial cells that line the vessels. It is this damage that they believe is causing cases of Heart Attacks, Strokes, and other heart problems from COVID-19.

“We have not only discovered which proteins have an impact on the vascular system, but also seen how exactly they exert their effect,” said Maoz. “What we found is these specific proteins make your vasculature more leaky. The tubes become more porous and cannot hold liquid as you would hope. This information is also valuable in efforts to develop drugs.”

To identify the problematic proteins, the team used the RNA of each of the separated COVID-19 proteins and examined the reaction that occurred when the various RNA sequences were inserted into human blood vessel cells in the lab. The proteins which caused the greatest damage to cells were identified in this manner.

The hope of the researchers is that this breakthrough will help companies develop better drugs to combat the virus.