Glycobiology, Fucose, and COVID-19

Larry A. Law

A study was published on January 18, 2022 in Science Translational Medicine which highlights the work of Taia Wang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of infectious diseases and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. The study results suggest that a test can be developed using the science of glycobiology to identify those people infected with SARS-CoV-2 who will later progress to severe symptoms as opposed to those whose immune systems will be able to handle the infection without medical intervention. Researchers discovered that individuals who progressed to severe COVID-19 had sugar chains on certain antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 which were deficient in a sugar called fucose. The deficiency was evident on the first day individuals tested positive.

Researchers took blood samples from 178 people who had tested positive for COVID. Their symptoms were mild, but over time 15 individuals developed severe symptoms requiring hospitalization. By comparing the initial blood sample with ones taken 4 weeks later, they found a clue to symptom development in the neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies bind pathogens like viruses and bacteria in just the right place that prevents infection. A larger immune response is generated because of this binding/adhesion. Researchers found that those who ended up hospitalized had very low levels of neutralizing antibodies to begin with. Those who were not hospitalized had high levels.  

Researchers determined that the antibody antennas (glycoproteins) had various sugar molecules linked together, and those sugars influenced the body's inflammatory response. Upon further investigation, researchers found that those individuals whose COVID-19 symptoms drastically worsened over time, were deficient in one of the 8 sugars that make up these glycoproteins. The sugar was fucose. In addition, these sicker individuals had abnormally high levels of receptors for those fucose-lacking types of antibodies. These receptors (called CD16a) are known to boost the inflammatory activity of immune system cells. This explained why there was such massive inflammation in the lungs of people whose immune systems failed to block SARS-CoV-2 quickly enough after infection. 

By analyzing the initial low-level neutralizing antibody response, the deficient levels of fucose on antibody sugar chains (glycoproteins), and the hyperabundant number of receptors looking for fucose-deficient antibodies, researchers reported that they were able to predict with 80% accuracy who would become seriously sick.

​For those of us who understand the value of nutritional glycobiology, the importance of having adequate levels of fucose and each of the 8 sugars in our diet is clear. We are not victims of genetics, viruses, or bacterial infection. We can take steps to strengthen our immune system so it can function. Proper structure (building correct glycoproteins) is essential to proper function of our immune system. For more information on the importance of these nutritional sugars, see my book, Theres An Elephant in the Room--Exposing Hidden Truths in the Science of Health.