How Virus Resistance Works
The course of the disease in a particular person is determined by a number of factors: general
For most diseases, the statistics of typical symptoms and the timing of their course do not includeIn cases where the disease was "mild" or completely asymptomatic.
And although such situations usually fall out of the field of view of doctors, they are the ones that representof particular interest because they can point out unknown mechanisms of protection againstInfections.
An analogy with HIV can be drawn: almost from the very beginning of the epidemic, there were rare cases when a person turned out to be completely resistant to the virus or did not carry the virus in the AIDS stage.Scientists have linked this situation to the surface lymphocyte protein CCR5, or more specifically, its absence in some people.
True, further research has shown that resistance to HIV may be due to not one, but several genes and proteins.
How we found resistance to coronavirus
Scientists have noticed that people livetogether and one of them becomes infected with SARS-CoV-2. The incubation period passes, symptoms appear, and after a few days the person enters the intensive care unit. But the second during this time did not show any symptoms of the disease.
Scientists believe that human resistance to the virusalso due to genetic characteristics. In January 2021, American scientists announced that they had found the most suitable candidate - the RAB7A gene, which is responsible for cell transport. If you turn it off, then the ACE2 receptor does not reach the cell surface, and the coronavirus needs this receptor to infect.
Is coronavirus resistance mutation common?
Mutations in RAB7A are rare, but theoretically, it or some other gene important for SARS-CoV-2 can be turned off by drugs. But for the prevention of HIV, such a remedy has never appeared.
What other genes are responsible for complete resistance to COVID-19
Another study in Brazil looked at couples where only one spouse was ill.After cross-checking the data, 46 variants of the MICA and MICB genes were found that affecton the activity of immune cells.
In the presence of these options, the infection proceeded withsymptoms. Something similar to the situation with HIV looms: several genes in a bundle can give resistance to the virus. Perhaps this will help find a cure for COVID-19.
Other opinions on viral resistance
Director of the Scientific Information Center forprevention and treatment of viral infections, immunologist Georgy Vikulov said that viral resistance is possible with genetic resistance to the virus or a certain effect of the immune system.
Perhaps this is an effect of the immune system. Possibly low viral load. Or the sum of these factors.
Georgy Vikulov, immunologist and director of the Scientific Information Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Viral Infections
Immunologist and Doctor of Medical Sciences Anna Toptygina said that resistance to the virus cancan be explained by another phenomenon — the interference of viruses.
This is an interaction in which the presence of one virus in the body inhibits the reproduction of the other.In this case, in response to a respiratory viral infection, the production of interferon, to which the new type of coronavirus is very sensitive, began.
She also noted that crosscutting can help.immunity: this is when a person's protection against a virus or bacteria saves from another. A person who has recovered once has immune memory cells, which are immediately activated in a situation of danger.
True, in the case of a very large dose of the virus, nothing will save, because all these mechanisms are not absolute and have an auxiliary character.
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