‘All the evidence shows that the virus severely damages the blood vessels or the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels.’

A team of Israeli experts has solved the mystery of which proteins in the SARS-CoV-2 virus are responsible for severe vascular damage in Covid-19 patients.

The novel coronavirus is made up of 29 proteins. Five of those proteins were identified as damaging to blood vessels in a study led by Tel Aviv University researchers Ben Maoz (biomedical engineering and neuroscience), Prof. Uri Ashery (life sciences and neuroscience) and Prof. Roded Sharan (computer science).

“We see a very high incidence of vascular disease and blood clotting, for example stroke and heart attack, among Covid patients,” said Maoz.