Researchers Discover COVID Proteins That Cause Strokes and Heart Attacks

A team of researchers in Israel have pinpointed the proteins in COVID-19 that cause heart attacks and strokes, an accomplishment that the researchers hope will help spur the development of new drugs.

According to Dr Ben Maoz of Tel Aviv University, one of the authors of the study, the "coronavirus isn't the purely respiratory disease we first thought, and we have identified the proteins that put patients at increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and other problems associated with the vascular system".

COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, is comprised of 29 proteins, of which five lead to vascular issues. To discover this, the researchers created a simulation of a human vascular system and observed the impact of all 29 proteins. From there, they were able to determine which proteins interacted with the vascular system and how.

"What we found is these specific proteins make your vasculature more leaky", Maoz said in a description of how the five proteins interfere with the normal function of the vascular system. "The tubes become more porous and cannot hold liquid as you would hope".

The discovery could lead to new therapeutics and treatments for patients suffering from the deadly respiratory disease.