Study reveals potential link between COVID-19 and Parkinson’s Disease
pharmafile | December 20, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
Scientists in The Netherlands have detailed a possible correlation between COVID-19 and the onset of Parkinson’s disease. The findings may have significant consequences for any COVID-19 vaccines in development that are based on targeting the well-conserved SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N-) protein.
First author, Slav A Semerdzhiev, alongside colleagues from the University of Twente in The Netherlands, found that the SARS-CoV-2 N- protein interacts with a neuronal protein called α-synuclein, and accelerates the formation of amyloid fibrils, which are a defining feature of Parkinson’s disease.
Semerdzhiev and colleagues studied the interactions of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S-protein) and the N-protein, in terms of their effects on α-synuclein aggregation. The S- and N- proteins are the two most common proteins in the SARS-CoV-2 virus; the S-protein helps the virus enter and infect cells, and the N-protein encapsulates the RNA genome within the virus.
The researchers found that whilst the S-protein did not affect α-synuclein aggregation, the N-protein significantly sped this up.
“Microinjection of N-protein into SH-SY5Y cells disturbed α-synuclein proteostasis and increased cell death,” researchers determined. More specifically, compared to controls cells, when the proteins were injected into Parkinson’s models, “about twice as many cells died upon injection of both proteins (the N-protein and α-synuclein).” The distribution of α-synuclein changed and elongated structures, although the researchers could not confirm whether those structures were amyloid.
These results suggest that direct interactions between the N-protein and α-synuclein form the molecular basis of correlations between SARS-CoV-2 and the development of Parkinson’s disease.
As Semerdzhiev and colleagues said, this work suggests that “SARS-CoV-2 infections may have long-term implications and that caution is required in considering N-protein as an alternative target in vaccination strategies.”
The results of this study have been published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
Lina Adams
