SAR-CoV-2 infection, emerging new variants and the role of activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in lasting immunity

Asad Ullah; Neelam Mabood; Muhammad Maqbool; Luqman Khan; Maria Khan; Mujib Ullah

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2021.09.006

SAR-CoV-2 infection, emerging new variants and the role of activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in lasting immunity

Saudi Pharm J. 2021 Oct;29(10):1181-1184. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2021.09.006. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Authors

Asad Ullah¹, Neelam Mabood², Muhammad Maqbool³, Luqman Khan⁴, Maria Khan⁵, Mujib Ullah⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
³ Department of Clinical & Diagnostic Sciences, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁴ Cardiovascular Vascular Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Immunology and Transplantation, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

Abstract

As the world faces a fourth COVID-19 spike, scientists are learning a lot more about the new SARS-CoV-2 strains that were previously unknown. Currently, the Delta versions of SARS-CoV-2 have become the prevalent strains in much of the world since it first appeared in India in late 2020. Researchers believe they have discovered why Delta has been so successful: those infected with it create significantly more virus than those infected with the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, making it extremely contagious. This has redirected the focus to how our immune system defends us from these various pathogens and initiates such varied responses. Hundreds of research papers have been published on the origins of long-lasting immune responses and disparities in the numbers of different immune cell types in COVID 19 survivors, but the primary architect of these discrepancies has yet to be discovered. In this essay, we will concentrate on the primary architect protein, activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID), which triggers molecular processes that allow our immune system to produce powerful antibodies and SARS-CoV-2 specific B cells, allowing us to outwit the virus. We believe that if we ever achieve permanent immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection, AID will be the key to releasing it.

Keywords: Cytidine deaminase; New variants of Coronavirus; Perpetual immunity; SRS-CoV-2.