@trendless
I was looking into this last night. RAGE is expressed on megakaryocytes. Given the behavior of other RAGE-expressing cells and Covid's anaphylatoxin-heavy inflammatory milieu, C5a is the best candidate for the stimulus responsible for expression of that RAGE, but it is far from settled--I don't think anyone has ever checked thoroughly changed megakaryocytes to see if they accept C5a. @trendless
@trendless
The overwhelming majority of virions destroyed by the host will be eliminated through lytic or opsonophagocytotic Complement. In many cases, including Covid and Influenza, the degree to which one occurs over the other determines disease severity, with opsonophagocytosis being the better option. Covid is special because it contains a protein that encourages lytic elimination.
To not understand this at Year 5 is an act of willful dereliction.