As the world moves on through the ongoing pandemic that is COVID-19, great minds across every field and corner of the world are doing their part to further our collective understanding of the virus. A recent study specifically took greater notice in the population of antibodies increasing in more sever cases of COVID-19 over mild ones. Specifically, there was a study conducted on the higher HERV-W and IFN-I antibody presence detected in intensive care COVID-19 patients, utilizing peptides for the experiment.

HERV-W and IFN-I antibody presence higher in severe COVID-19 cases

LifeTein supplied the group with the HERV-W-env(248–262), IFN-α, and IFN-ω peptides necessary for the report. Not only did the studies prove higher levels of anti-IFN-I autoantibodies and HERV-W antibodies are much more prevalent in severe COVID-19 cases than in mild ones, but it opened up a new perspective on how the humoral responses against HERV-W-env(248–262) and IFN-α are correlated across ICU patients. Hopefully, this research leads to more beneficial breakthroughs over time, for COVID-19 cases and potentially other life-threatening conditions as well.

Simula, E. R., Manca, M. A., Noli, M., Jasemi, S., Ruberto, S., Uzzau, S., Rubino, S., Manca, P., & Sechi, L. A. (2022). Increased Presence of Antibodies against Type I Interferons and Human Endogenous Retrovirus W in Intensive Care Unit COVID-19 Patients. In H. H. Mostafa (Ed.), Microbiology Spectrum. American Society for Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01280-22