Renin-Angiotensin System, SARS-CoV-2 and Hypotheses about Some Adverse Effects Following Vaccination

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the lungs but also the cardiovascular system, especially since the spike protein of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) uses the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), existing on the membrane of many cell species, as a receptor. This connection has consequences on the renin-angiotensin system, arterial pressure and coagulation. An imbalance of blood pressure control, of coagulation and platelet functions, and of the kinin-kallicrein system may occur in natural disease but is also partly reflected in some possible negative consequences following vaccination. Knowledge of these mechanisms could help to identify the subjects most at risk of complications and to correctly carry out the causality assessment of adverse events.

Note: Funding: The author has not received funds to compose this manuscript. It is the result of his ideas and his studies in the environment of the University of Verona.

Declaration of Interests: The author is free of competing interests. In the past three years he has been involved in some consultancy, conferences and publications in which he has supported the freedom of vaccination. The author has always carried out these activities for free and in none of these activities he has received any payment, direct or indirect. In particular, the author advised the Veneto Region on the occasion of the appeal to the Italian Constitutional Court against Law 119/2017 and wrote a document on invitation to the Senate Hygiene and Health Commission advocating the cause of vaccination freedom. The proceeds of PB’s book "Vaccines yes, Obligations no” (Libreria Cortina Editions, Verona, 2017) is entirely donated to a charity association. Since October 2020, the authorhas been scientific consultant from Vanda Omeopatici s.r.l. (Frascati, Roma), a company that produces food supplements.

Keywords: COVID-19, Renin-angiotensin system, ACE2, vaccination, Spike protein, Arterial pressure, Kinine system, Platelets, Immunopharmacology, Thrombosis.