Nature has an interesting piece on the phenomenon of auto-antibodies, the immune system attacking the immune system. They have noted:
More than a year after COVID-19 emerged, many mysteries persist about
the disease: why do some people get so much sicker than others? Why does
lung damage sometimes continue to worsen well after the body seems to
have cleared the SARS-CoV-2 virus? And what is behind the extended,
multi-organ illness that lasts for months in people with ‘long COVID’? A
growing number of studies suggest that some of these questions might be
explained by the immune system mistakenly turning against the body — a
phenomenon known as autoimmunity.
This is a somewhat new observation. We have similarly argued that the innate system also has this form of over reaction via NK cells. They continue:
There are several theories to explain how autoimmunity might emerge from
COVID and other infections. Some people might be predisposed to
producing autoantibodies that can then wreak havoc during an infection.
Alternatively, infections could even trigger the production of
autoantibodies. If researchers can establish the link, they might be
able to come up with avenues for treatment, both for the repercussions
of COVID and for other diseases caused by viruses.
This is a significant area of research and strangely the virus may dramatically enhance our understanding of the immune system.
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