# What to make of this paper claiming the coronavirus attacks red blood cells **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 1, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-make-of-this-paper-claiming-the-coronavirus-attacks-red-blood-cells/850842 "2020-04-01T22:57:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-make-of-this-paper-claiming-the-coronavirus-attacks-red-blood-cells/850842/1 "2020-04-01T22:57:50Z")
> **[COVID-19:Attacks the 1-Beta Chain of Hemoglobin and Captures the Porphyrin to...](https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/60c74fa50f50db305139743d)** > > The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is an infectious acute respiratory caused by the novel coronavirus. The virus is the positive-strand RNA one with high homology to bat coronavirus. The pathogenic mechanism of the new coronavirus is still... > [@](#): > > The results showed the ORF8 and surface glycoprotein could bind to the porphyrin, respectively. At the same time, orf1ab, ORF10, and ORF3a proteins could coordinate attack the heme on the 1-beta chain of hemoglobin to dissociate the iron to form the porphyrin. The attack will cause less and less hemoglobin that can carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lung cells have extremely intense poisoning and inflammatory due to the inability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen frequently, which eventually results in ground-glass-like lung images. The mechanism also interfered with the normal heme anabolic pathway of the human body, is expected to result in human disease. they claim this could be why anti malaria medications could work for the virus, because it attacks red blood cells and prevents them from carrying oxygen and carbon dioxide. Wouldn’t this be very easy to test for in a lab though? I get the impression that this is a computational experiment, but wouldn’t it be easy to test this theory in vitro? If true, would this have anything to do with why certain blood types respond differently to the virus? Also if true, wouldn’t there be a lot of symptom overlap with diseases like malaria or sickle cell anemia? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-make-of-this-paper-claiming-the-coronavirus-attacks-red-blood-cells/850842/2 "2020-04-04T11:03:53Z")
This paper is playing catch-up: they targeted these drugs to describe the interaction because people are already testing them in blood, and in people. Yes COVID-19 has symptoms similar to other diseases. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-make-of-this-paper-claiming-the-coronavirus-attacks-red-blood-cells/850842/3 "2020-04-04T12:34:37Z")
We already know from experience with SARS that chloroquine can interfere with coronavirus reproduction in ways that are unrelated to porphyrin binding. It does this by altering pH of certain parts of the cell, and it brings in zinc. I’m not saying it’s impossible that COVID attacks hemoglobin like a malaria parasite does, but that explanation isn’t required to explain why chloroquine might be an effective antiviral. If we suspected it was true then it would seem easy enough to analyze lung tissue or blood samples for the telltale degradation products of this process (free heme or hemozoin). ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-make-of-this-paper-claiming-the-coronavirus-attacks-red-blood-cells/850842/4 "2020-04-04T12:48:31Z")
They’re not claiming coronavirus attacks red blood cells. They’re claiming several proteins in coronavirus attack hemoglobin. Next step is to show the virus can get those proteins into the red blood cells.