Peking University researchers report a new mechanism for the new coronavirus to activate the host's natural immune response

On November 3, 2021, the research group of Professor Wensheng Wei of Peking University and the research group of Professor Jianwei Wang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union Medical College published a titled " Sensing of cytoplasmic chromatin by cGAS activates innate immune response in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy ".

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the new coronavirus infection has severely affected human health and social stability, but its pathogenic mechanism is still unclear

The new coronavirus is a type of RNA virus, which is usually recognized by the host RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) and activates the interferon response

Figure 1 Chromatin nucleation caused by cell fusion and cGAS recognition of chromatin fragments

In order to further study the relationship between the cell fusion induced by the new coronavirus and the activation of natural immunity, the research team established a cell fusion system mediated by the interaction between the viral spike protein Spike and the viral receptor ACE2

The classic paradigm of innate immune response is a specific response to pathogen invasion after the body recognizes and distinguishes "self" and "non-self" components

Associate researcher Zhou Zhuo of Wei Wensheng's research group is the co-first author and co-corresponding author of the paper.

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