Epitope

Heat shock protein

Virus

Epstein–Barr virus

Biology

Gene

Epistemology

Philosophy

Peptide sequence

Antibody

Virology

Ecology

Immunology

Molecular mimicry

Guillain-Barre syndrome

Mechanism (biology)

Genetics

Mimicry

Immune system

Cell Stress and Chaperones

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection has been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome. We investigated here the potential mechanism underlying the virus-induced damage of the peripheral nervous systems by searching the viral amino acid sequence for peptides common to human autoantigens associated with immune-mediated polyneuropathies. Our results show molecular mimicry between the virus and human heat shock proteins 90 and 60, which are associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome and other autoimmune diseases. Crucially, the shared peptides are embedded in immunoreactive epitopes that have been experimentally validated in the human host.

SARS-CoV-2 and Guillain-Barré syndrome: molecular mimicry with human heat shock proteins as potential pathogenic mechanism