An insertion unique to SARS-CoV-2 exhibits superantigenic character strengthened by recent mutations.

ABSTRACT: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly recognized condition in which children with recent SARS-CoV-2 infection present with a constellation of symptoms including hypotension, multiorgan involvement, and elevated inflammatory markers. These symptoms and the associated laboratory values strongly resemble toxic shock syndrome, an escalation of the cytotoxic adaptive immune response triggered upon the binding of pathogenic superantigens to MHCII molecules and T cell receptors (TCRs). Here, we used structure-based computational models to demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) exhibits a high-affinity motif for binding TCR, interacting closely with both the α- and β-chains variable domains' complementarity-determini

SUBMITTER: Cheng MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7263503 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature