The Conversation: UNO Professor Discusses Medical Lessons Learned from COVID-19

The past two years have been heavily impacted by COVID-19, but despite its disastrous effects, the pandemic has contributed to medical knowledge by leaps and bounds.

Dario Ghersi, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical informatics at UNO, published an article in ‘The Conversation’ that explored a potential link between autoimmune disorders and the virus that causes COVID-19.

“The immune system is the most powerful weapon against infection. But on rare occasions, something devastating happens: The immune system turns against its own body,” Ghersi wrote. “Researchers are still trying to solve the mystery of what causes these diseases, in hopes of developing therapies to treat them. COVID-19 may accelerate that process by giving researchers new insight into old findings about the immune system.”

There are molecules called interferons that are produced to get ahead of an infection when a virus begins to multiply in the body. However, medical reports of people with severe COVID-19 from early in the pandemic showed a weak response of Type 1 interferons to the virus, and some patients even developed antibodies specifically targeting Type 1 interferons, disposing of the body’s first line of defense against viral disease.

There is work being done to further decipher the connection between autoimmune disorders and viral infections. Doctors are also researching new therapies to control an overreactive immune system.

Some immunologists also believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 infection, may trigger the body to attack itself with antibodies that target the body’s own tissues. Further research could determine if there is a link between viruses and auto-immune disorders, including the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis or the SARS-CoV-2 virus and what’s commonly known as “long COVID-19.”

Read the full article on The Conversation.