There are already five widely spread variants of the coronavirus: can control of the pandemic get complicated?

Emilia vexler

01/23/2021 17:15

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 01/23/2021 6:54 PM

Let's think of a virus as a "little mutant" that we carry inside.

That constantly mutates.

At your own pace.

With different consequences.

In a month, at least 5 new variants of coronavirus appeared or spread, which increase the rate of infections, mortality and add doubts about how they could affect treatments and vaccines.

The laboratories ensure that mutations are part of the natural history of all viruses.

That those "little mutants" always did what they do best: mutate. 

But in this global context, not only do the numbers of cases and deaths increase,

but they also impact the economy, deepening

lockdowns

and closing borders.

Can they become the main obstacle to stop the Covid?

Claudia Perandones is the renowned geneticist who coordinates the ANLIS Malbrán teams responsible for testing and decoding the virus genome in Argentina.

Because of his

expertise

against "mutants", he knows that it is scary to hear of "new strains" and vaccines that are already made.

That is why he clarifies that mutations create variants.

And that

vaccines, if necessary, can be recalibrated.

"Variants are a set or constellation of mutations or changes in the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that occur jointly or in association. The variants that have generated concern are called VOCs (variants of concern, in English)", explains the scientific director of ANLIS Malbrán.

Which are?

The most media these days.

The UK VOC and the Rio de Janeiro VOC.

Both were detected in our country.

The one in the United Kingdom is B.1.1.7, which has 23 mutations of which 8 are located in the viral spicule.

Among those mutations,

three generate the greatest concern.

Claudia Perandones, giving a lecture at a meeting of the Council of Science and Technology in the Ministry of Science and Technology.

"One is the N501Y mutation, which is located in the key contact area for binding with the human ACE2 receptor, which is the gateway for the virus to enter human cells."

This mutation gives it a higher affinity or avidity to bind to cells and would be responsible for the virus having 70% more transmissibility.

Does this mutation allow Covid to escape the antibody response of those that were previously infected and also of vaccines?

No.

Recent studies from the

Mount Sinai

School of Medicine in

New York

- with which ANLIS Malbrán has a strategic collaboration - demonstrated that this mutation "is sensitive to the response mediated by antibodies", both in the plasma of individuals recovered from the disease

as in the serum of vaccinated people.

"This finding is very reassuring in relation to the fact that currently developed vaccines are effective in protecting against the United Kingdom variant", Perandones brand.

Two other worrisome mutations within this variant raised alarm: the 69-70 deletion and the P681H mutation.

But they also do not escape the vaccine or plasma.

Does the United Kingdom variant, which is in Argentina, conditions higher mortality?

"Although Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised this Friday the possibility of greater lethality, the reality is that there is no scientific evidence for such a claim. It is logical and expected that the increase in the number of cases produced by this variant inevitably conditions, an increase in the number of deaths. But both the research groups of Public Health England, Imperial College London, among others, do not allow to confirm what the premier said ", says Perandones.

─Are the vaccines developed for SARS-Cov-2 effective against the appearance of variants?

─Both the CEO of BionTech (Pfizer), Ugur Sahin, as well as that of Moderna and the Director of the Russian Fund for Direct Investment, Kiril Dmitriev, confirmed that the statistical modeling and tests aimed at determining what the spatial conformation of the spicule with the mutations could adopt, showed that currently developed vaccines are effective in neutralizing the UK variant.

Perandones also highlights that

this week Pfizer published its study carried out together with the University of Texas,

Medical Branch at Galveston, which proved that this vaccine

"is effective for all those variants that contain the N501Y mutation."

This mutation is present in the UK variant (B.1.1.7) and also in South Africa (501.V2) and Brazil identified in Japanese tourists (B.1.1.248, or P1 variant).

In that study, the researchers evaluated serum from 20 vaccinated people and determined that it was capable of neutralizing them.

The concrete thing is that the British variants are more contagious: they were identified in September and

now have a high prevalence in 60 countries

.

How could the UK mutations have been generated?

Again, and simply, by the nature of these little mutants.

But there was something unusual.

"That the UK variant differs by 23 mutations from the original Wuhan, China strain, is much higher than current estimates of the virus' molecular clock of about two mutations per genome per month. The unusually high number of mutations spicule protein and other genomic properties of this variant indicate that it was not the result of gradual accumulation of mutations in the UK (as more infections occurred). A possible explanation for the emergence is a prolonged infection with SARS-CoV -2 in a single patient, potentially with reduced immunocompetence, "says Perandones.

-Could a possible new mutation lead to existing vaccines today becoming placebo? 

-Most of the vaccines for SARS CoV 2 were developed through genetic engineering strategies.

This made it possible to accelerate the times but would also allow, if necessary, to introduce modifications in the genomic sequences of the viral spicule, which is the target that everyone chooses as the main immune stimulus for the body to produce antibodies ", he closes. Thus, the race against the "little mutants" would never start from 0.