CORONAVIRUS-ASSOCIATED MOLECULAR MIMICRY THROUGH HOMOLOGY TO A 15MER SARS-COV-2 PEPTIDE
- Yekbun Adiguzel, Turkey
Abstract
Background and Aims
COVID-19 pathogenicity can be involving autoimmunity. In relation, the aim in this study is to look for autoimmunity-related pathological mechanisms common to certain coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, through a 15mer (CFLGYFCTCYFGLFC), which is part of the SARS-CoV-2 nsp6 protein.
Methods
Coronavirus-associated sequences, which are homologous to the specific SARS-CoV-2 peptide, are obtained. Then we found the alignments of those homologous coronavirus sequences with the human sequences, with at least 7 residue matches, and also common to the selected SARS-CoV-2 15mer peptide alignments with the human sequences. Finally, epitope pairs that are sourced by those coronavirus and human sequences are identified. However, for that, the epitope pairs were expected to be predicted to bind strongly to the same HLA alleles while those HLA alleles are the same also as that of the epitope pairs, which are sourced by the respective alignments of the SARS-CoV-2 15mer.
Results
Proteins or protein regions that contain those predicted epitopes are immunoglobulin heavy chain junction regions, CRB1 isoform I precursor, slit homolog 2 protein, hCG1995581, hCG2028737, and phospholipid phosphatase-related protein type 2. They are possibly correlated with certain pathological conditions. Among those, CRB1 isoform I precursor is aligning with the highest number of different coronavirus sequences, which are homologous to the SARS-CoV-2 peptide, and its relevant query-subject epitope pairs have strong binding affinity to the HLA-A*24:02 allele.
Conclusions
Results imply autoimmunity risk in COVID-19 patients with HLA-A*02:01 and HLA-A*24:02 serotypes, through molecular mimicry, which is common to those sourced by other coronaviruses than SARS-CoV-2, and to SARS-CoV-2, at different extents.