November 23, 2021
SEVERE COVID, MIS-C, MIS-A, MIS-V, LONG COVID AND AUTOIMMUNITY: MOLECULAR MIMICRY OF THE SARS-CoV-2 SPIKE PROTEIN AS “GRAFT,” ITS ACTIONS IN COVID-19 AND GRAFT VS HOST DISEASE: DISEASES OF TARGET TISSUE DESTRUCTION
In my studies, I keep finding a disease which, like an ostinato, is omnipresent in my research results. Interestingly, a parallel with a game I play to unwind led me to a breakthrough.
I play Hearthstone. It is my “mindless” activity to unwind while being able to use my mind, but not in a mind-bending way. I consider myself to be pretty good at the game. I usually make Legend these days. Another Legend player told me that when you are crafting an original deck, and it is not working, look at the cards that are left in your hand when you lose. Those are the problem cards.
Applying this concept towards research, I have always found Graft vs Host Disease as the “odd man out” that I could not account for in my work. I am always “left” with it. Therefore, I determined it must be the “problem.” Once I began investigating the disease, I realized, it IS COVID. And it is perhaps an explanation for the greatest dangers the virus causes.
You won’t like this. And I certainly don’t. However, the brutal truth is that I believe repeated exposure to the virus and its Spike Protein will inevitably induce “Graft vs Host Disease” (GVHD) in the infected and reinfected.
The story begins with, what else, the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2. This monstrous molecule happens to contain TWENTY-SIX peptide sequences which are homologous to human proteins. Some of our cells are Antigen Presenting Cells which “grind up” pathogens and then present “snippets” of them to our adaptive (T and B cells) immune system to create antibodies against them and to “teach” our T Cells to kill them.
Inevitably, when you are dealing with numbers as large as viral proteins and virions, those 26 peptides are going to be “served up” to our immune cells. “Once or twice” may not mean much and our immune system will turn its nose up and move along. However, if you keep shoving those peptides in its face, it will eventually “bite.”
PHASE 1 – ACTIVATION OF ANTIGEN PRESENTING CELLS (APCs)
This sets the stage for what is to follow. It is the initial damage stage. It can be caused by many things. Chemotherapy, RADIATION, INFECTION. Severe damage is the key. We know that the Spike Protein causes severe damage to tissues. This releases lots of Danger and Pathogen “molecular patterns” into the extracellular space. Remember, those 26 sequences are among these patterns. There are BILLIONS of them. These are gathered up by the APCs to be given to the T (and B) cells for “action.”
PHASE 2 – DONOR T CELL ACTIVATION
This is where things get tricky and interesting. In Phase 2 of GVHD, donor T cell activation, proliferation, differentiation and migration in response to primed APCs occurs during the second phase of acute GVHD. The T cell receptors (TCR) of donor T cells recognize alloantigens on both host and donor type APCs that are present in secondary lymphoid organs. During direct presentation, donor T cells recognize either the peptide bound to host MHC molecules, or the foreign MHC molecules themselves.
However, in COVID-19 it is YOUR OWN T cells which are activating, proliferating, differentiating and migrating in response to the primed APCs. The homologies in the Spike Protein are the “alloantigens” – except, they also happen to be yours.
PHASE 3 – CELLULAR AND INFLAMMATORY EFFECTOR PHASE
A complex cascade of cellular and inflammatory mediators occurs during the effector phase of acute GVHD and COVID-19. These mediators synergize to amplify local tissue injury and damage target tissues. As such, the effector phase of GVHD and COVID-19 involves aspects of both the innate and adaptive immune response as well as interactions with the proinflammatory cells and cytokines generated during phase 1 and 2.
DESTRUCTION OF TARGET TISSUES. Heart. Lung. Gastrointestinal. Brain. Etc. Followed by – FIBROSIS.
This is Severe COVID. This is Long COVID. This is MIS-C, MIS-A and MIS-V.
Spinning the Wheel of COVID shrinks the number of “prizes” it offers. Every time. Eventually, there is only one “prize” left.
Autoimmunity.
Referenced/Related Papers
Pathogenesis and Management of Graft versus Host Disease
Acute Graft Versus Host Disease: A Comprehensive Review