Deocaris Custer C, Alinsug Malona V
Atomic Research Division, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines.
Mol Biol Res Commun. 2023;12(2):71-76. doi: 10.22099/mbrc.2023.47122.1819.
There has been a concerning increase in the incidence of autoimmune diseases following SARS-CoV-2 infection, with molecular mimicry proposed as a potential mechanism. Our study identified nine fertility-associated proteins (AMH, BMP2, CUBN, DNER, ERCC1, KASH5, MSLN, TPO, and ZP3) that exhibit potential molecular mimicry with MHC-II epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 proteins (N, ORF1A, ORF1AB, and S). We screened for epitopes based on in silico binding using DR-, DQ-, and DP-haplotypes that predispose susceptible individuals to autoimmune diseases. Our systematic analysis revealed that 41 countries with population coverage of over 50% had a pre-COVID pandemic total fertility rate of less than 2.1 births per woman. With over 761 million people from 229 countries and territories infected since December 2019, there may be a potential for a foreseeable negative effect on fertility in specific countries, particularly in high-income economies experiencing rapid demographic changes.
新型冠状病毒感染后自身免疫性疾病的发病率出现了令人担忧的上升，分子模拟被认为是一种潜在机制。我们的研究确定了九种与生育相关的蛋白质（抗缪勒氏管激素、骨形态发生蛋白2、立方蛋白、神经上皮转化蛋白、切除修复交叉互补蛋白1、KASH5、间皮素、甲状腺过氧化物酶和透明带蛋白3），它们与新型冠状病毒蛋白（N、开放阅读框1A、开放阅读框1AB和S）的主要组织相容性复合体II类表位存在潜在的分子模拟。我们基于计算机模拟结合，使用使易感个体易患自身免疫性疾病的DR、DQ和DP单倍型筛选表位。我们的系统分析显示，人口覆盖率超过50%的41个国家在新冠疫情前的总和生育率低于每名妇女2.1个孩子。自2019年12月以来，来自229个国家和地区的超过7.61亿人受到感染，在特定国家，尤其是经历快速人口结构变化的高收入经济体，可能会对生育产生可预见的负面影响。
