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Rogue antibodies are major culprits in severe cases of COVID-19, researchers report.
These autoantibodies target and react with a person’s tissues or organs similar to ones that cause autoimmune diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. In COVID-19 cases they can attack healthy tissue in brain, blood vessels, platelets, liver, and the gastrointestinal tract, researchers report. The more autoantibodies detected, the greater the disease severity patients experience.
And the autoantibodies paradoxically also target and interfere with many immune system proteins that are designed to fend off infections, according to a new study.
The development of antibodies in response to the COVID-19 virus has been the great long-term hope for ending the pandemic, but it might not be so simple.
Study offers an explanation for why the APOE4 gene enhances Alzheimer’s risk
March 4, 2021MIT
The gene variant disrupts lipid metabolism, but in cell experiments the effects were reversed by choline
One of the most significant genetic risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease is a gene called APOE4, which is carried by almost half of all Alzheimer’s patients. A new study from MIT shows that this gene has widespread effects on brain cells’ ability to metabolize lipids and respond to stress.
In studies of human brain cells and yeast cells, the researchers found that the APOE4 gene significantly disrupts brain cells’ ability to carry out their normal functions. They also showed that treating these cells with extra choline, a widely available supplement that is considered safe for human use, could reverse many of these effects.