A comprehensive mini-review on amyloidogenesis of different SARS-CoV-2 proteins and its effect on amyloid formation in various host proteins

3 Biotech. 2022 Nov;12(11):322. doi: 10.1007/s13205-022-03390-1. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Abstract

Amyloidogenesis is the inherent ability of proteins to change their conformation from native state to cross β-sheet rich fibrillar structures called amyloids which result in a wide range of diseases like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Finnish familial amyloidosis, ATTR amyloidosis, British and Danish dementia, etc. COVID-19, on the other hand is seen to have many similarities in symptoms with other amyloidogenic diseases and the overlap of these morbidities and symptoms led to the proposition whether SARS-CoV-2 proteins are undergoing amyloidogenesis and whether it is resulting in or aggravating amyloidogenesis of any human host protein. Thus the SARS-CoV-2 proteins in infected cells, i.e., Spike (S) protein, Nucleocapsid (N) protein, and Envelope (E) protein were tested via different machinery and amyloidogenesis in them were proven. In this review, we will analyze the pathway of amyloid formation in S-protein, N-protein, E-protein along with the effect that SARS-CoV-2 is creating on various host proteins leading to the unexpected onset of many morbidities like COVID-induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Parkinsonism in young COVID patients, formation of fibrin microthrombi in heart, etc., and their future implications.

Keywords: ARDS; ATTR; Amyloidogenesis; COVID-19; Envelope protein; Nucleocapsid protein; Serum amyloid A; Spike protein; α-Synuclein.

Publication types

  • Review