There are two 'special surveillance' mutations identified on the most widespread form of the Indian variant of the sarsCoV2 virus: there are many laboratories, also in Italy, which are studying them, reconstructing their 3D structure, while others obtain the sequences and compare them. Arousing all this interest is the suspicion that, in light of the spread of the infection in India, the culprit of the very rapid spread of the virus is precisely this variant. One also wonders if it does not have enough strength to supplant the English one, currently the most widespread.
The 3D structure
"We are studying the 3D structure of the
two mutations
to see if they are connected and if one helps the other ", said Massimo Ciccozzi, director of the laboratory of Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology at the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome. Of this variant, he said again," we know very little, we are studying it to verify the hypothesis that the two mutations can act in pairs. "
A 'family' of variants
The variant we are studying is called
B.1.617
and appeared in India in October 2020 with the variant
B.1.618
, which would seem less aggressive. Complicating the situation is the fact that B.1.617 already has a 'family', members of which are the three versions called
B.1.617.1
,
B.1.617.2
and
B.1.617.3
. Of these, "
only 1 and 3
have the
double mutation
", explains Gianguglielmo Zehender, Professor of Hygiene at the State University of Milan.
A double mutation on the same protein
It is therefore on these two 'variants of the variant' that the attention of experts is focusing. The
mutations
they are studying are
E 484 Q
, present in the Brazilian (P.1) and South African (B.1.351.V2) variants, and
L 452 R
, described in the Californian variant (B.1.429). Of the first it is known that "it is able to escape from antibodies, both to those produced by the vaccine and to those generated by those who are cured" and it is suspected that the association with L 452 R could enhance its effect ", observes virologist Francesco Broccolo, from the University of Milan Bicocca.
At work to understand which is the Indian variant identified in Italy
Variant B.1.617 has been reported so far in about twenty countries; two cases have been ascertained in Italy. "At the moment, no we know which Indian variant has been identified in Italy: it will only be known when the
ongoing
sequencing
is completed
, "Ciccozzi said.
Zehender also notes that "variant B.1.617 is still under investigation and very little can still be said about its transmissibility and the effects vaccines have on it. We know that about 70% of the genetic sequences of the sarsCoV2 virus characterized so far in India refer to this variant, but it is also true that this data does not mean much, given that the sequences obtained in India are few: just a thousand out of 4 million cases ".
The Indian variant and vaccines
It is known that the E 484 Q "mutation is able to escape from
antibodies
, both to those produced by the vaccine and to those generated by those who are cured - observes Broccolo - and it is suspected that the association with L 452 R could enhance its effect ". Pending further information, caution is a must and, speaking of the ability to escape from antibodies, Broccolo observes that these are not the only weapon of vaccines; moreover "the fact that the Indian variant B.1.617 appeared in October and that even now India has vaccinated only the 10% of the population suggests that it was not born as a result of the selective pressure of the vaccine ".
The best weapon is still prevention
Certainly it is not the first variant to make its appearance and it will not be the last and the ways to defend oneself, according to the experts, are at least three: the first is to continue to follow the prevention measures, from the mask to the spacing; the second is to speed up vaccination campaigns and the third is to make the genetic sequences of the virus.
