WEDNESDAY 3 March 2021 (HealthDay News) – A new study provides further evidence that people with certain blood types are more likely to develop COVID-19.
It specifically found that the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is particularly attracted to the blood group A antigen found in respiratory cells.
The researchers focused on a protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus called the receptor binding domain (RBD), which is the part of the virus that attaches to the host cells. This makes it an important target for scientists trying to figure out how the virus infects humans.
In this laboratory study, the team assessed how the SARS-CoV-2 RBD interacted with respiratory and red blood cells in A, B, and O blood groups.
The results showed that the SARS-CoV-2 RBD had a strong preference for binding to blood group A found on respiratory cells, but that it had no preference for blood group A red blood cells, or other blood groups appearing on respiratory or red blood cells. cells occur.
The SARS-CoV-2 RBD’s preference to recognize and attach the blood group A antigen present in the lungs of people with blood group A can provide insight into the possible link between blood group A and COVID-19 infection, according to the authors of the study. It was published in the magazine on March 3 Blood transfusion.
“Interestingly, the viral RBD prefers only the type of blood group A antigens found on respiratory cells. This is presumably the way the virus invades most patients and infects them,” said the study’s author, Dr. Sean Stowell, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“Blood type is a challenge because it is inherited and not something we can change,” Stowell said in a news release. “But if we can better understand how the virus interacts with blood types in humans, we could possibly find new medicines or prevention methods.”
These findings alone cannot fully describe or predict how coronaviruses will affect patients of different blood groups, the researchers noted.
“Our observation is not the only mechanism responsible for what we see clinically, but it may explain the influence of blood group on COVID-19 infection,” Stowell and his team said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.
SOURCE: Blood transfusion, news release, March 3, 2021