EVALUATION OF THE RELEASE OF NEUTROPHIL EXTRACELLULAR NETWORKS (NETs) IN RESPONSE TO DIFFERENT VARIANTS OF THE SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS

• Grant number: 23/16352-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Cellular Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Fernando de Queiroz Cunha
• Grantee: Beatriz de Souza Bonfim
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/08216-2 - CRID - Center for Research in Inflammatory Diseases, AP.CEPID

Abstract

Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocytes in the human circulatory system and, therefore, are essential for the first line of defense against infectious agents and contribute to the inflammatory response. To achieve this, neutrophils can act through degranulation, phagocytosis or release of extracellular networks (NETs). NETs are traps formed by DNA and proteins from these neutrophils that have the ability to capture, neutralize and kill microorganisms.The objective of this study is to analyze the signaling pathways involved with the NETs mechanism in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 with different variants of SARS-CoV-2. With this, we seek to elucidate the role of the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the elastase protein in the NETosis response to different variants of the virus.Therefore, this work seeks to evaluate the effects of the release of NETs in response to different variants of SARS-CoV-2, aiming to better understand this important defense mechanism by analyzing the components of the signaling pathways of this process in comparison with the first variant observed in Brazil.