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Urgent Studies Needed To Assess If SARS-CoV-2 Can Cause Missense Mutations In Human DNA And Give Rise To New Medical Conditions Never Seen Before!
Source: Medical News - SARS-CoV-2 Induced Human Missense Mutations Jul 25, 2022 2 years, 5 months, 1 hour, 46 minutes ago
Thailand Medical News is once again proposing another new hypothesis, this time that SARS-CoV-2 infections can cause missense mutations in the human DNA and genes and give rise to new medical conditions never seen before.
A missense mutation occurs when there is a mistake in the DNA code and one of the DNA base pairs is changed, for example, A is swapped for C.
This single change means that the DNA now encodes for a different amino acid, known as a substitution. Sometimes a change in the amino acid has no effect on the resulting protein's function at all. On some occasions, the change in amino acid actually enhances the protein's function, but in other cases it can ultimately render the protein as "faulty".
Such mutations can be caused by environmental factors known as mutagens. Types of mutagens include radiation, chemicals and infectious agents including viruses! Mutations may also be spontaneous in nature.
Example of missense mutation caused medical condition is sickle cell anemia. It is a type of point mutation, where a change in the single base pair results in the codon, which codes for different amino acids and changes the function of protein.
Other examples of human diseases caused by missense mutations are Epidermolysis bullosa and SOD1 mediated Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.
Effects of missense mutations becomes clear when one considers genetic diseases. It is known that the substitution of only one residue in a protein sequence can be related to a number of pathological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s diseases. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16895930/
It is also well known that accumulation of autosomal mutations can lead to cancers, and that hereditary diseases are caused by one or more germline mutations. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18096555/
The analysis of the impacts of missense mutations advances our understanding of the relationships between protein structure and function, and allows us to decipher the mechanisms of the effects of disease mutations and thereby pathogenesis. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12826609/
The plausible effects of missense mutations range from affecting the macromolecular stability to perturbing macromolecular interactions and cellular localization. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18393868/
The SARS-CoV-2 is already known to affect a wide array of human cellular pathways and causing a variety of genes to be dysfunctional in order for it to evade the immune responses.
The GRIA1 gene facilitates the movement of electrical impulses inside the brain. The brain’s ability to remember information may be hampered if this process is interfered with or if it is rendered less efficient. This new disease does not have a name yet.
We at Thailand Medical News strongly believe that we will see new kinds of medical conditions never seen before arising due to the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in causing human missense mutations including new types of oncological and neurological manifestations. We also believe that already some of these new medical conditions are materializing in people that were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus but unfortunately, they and their doctors are not able to diagnose the prevailing issues.
Urgent research is needed to validate our claims or to prove us wrong.
Below is a list of interesting studies we covered so far that has a certain bearing to what we are claiming.