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- A key mutation found in the coronavirus variants in South Africa and Brazil has now been detected in the variant found in the UK.
- Scientists believe that the E488K mutation could help the coronavirus escape antibodies.
- They fear that this could mean that vaccines are not working as well or that people are re-infected.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
The variant coronavirus first discovered in the UK and spreading around the world appears to be evolving into another mutation that scientists believe could help viruses escape vaccines.
The mutation is also found in variants found in South Africa and Brazil. Scientists believe this allows the virus to escape antibodies produced by the body, after immunization or a previous coronavirus infection. Vaccines and some antibody drugs may therefore not work as well.
Eleven cases of the variant, called B.1.1.7, had the E484K mutation in a data set of more than 200,000 in the UK, Public Health England said on January 26.
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, said the mutation was a “concern”.
The fact that the UK variant appears to acquire this mutation “shows that the virus is very likely to adapt to our immune response,” he said.
“The South African variant may be able to more effectively re-infect people who have already been infected with the original form of the virus,” he said in a statement. “This is probably due, in part, to the E484K mutation which can weaken the immune response.”
He said the mutation could also impact the duration of the antibody response.
The variant detected in the UK has been sequenced in 55 different countries, including the US. There are 342 cases in the United States, according to reports based on GISAID data.
Vaccine maker Novavax said on Thursday its COVID-19 vaccine was working less well for the variant found in South Africa. Johnson & Johnson said on Friday its injection of COVID-19 was less effective in South Africa – scientists have suggested this was due to the E484K mutation.
Pfizer and Moderna have both said their COVID-19 vaccines work, albeit slightly less well, against artificial lab variants that contain the mutation. Neither company has tested real-world coronavirus variants.
‘Worrisome development’
“While this E484K mutation is acquired by most of the British B.1.1.7 variants, recent assurances from recent studies showing that mRNA vaccines [like Moderna and Pfizers] will still provide optimal protection against the original UK variant may no longer apply, ”Dr Julian Tang, clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, said in a statement.
“It’s a worrying development, but not entirely unexpected,” Tang said.
Simon Clarke, associate professor of cell microbiology at the University of Reading, said in a statement that although no assessment has yet been made on the effectiveness of vaccines currently in use in the UK – by drug makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca – it was possible that they were. work less well against B.1.1.7 variants with this mutation.
Viral mutations occur when a virus replicates and makes mistakes. This is a normal process, but the mutations become worrisome when they start to affect the behavior of the virus.
Public Health England reported that preliminary information suggests that more than one “acquisition event” caused the E484K mutation.
It could also be because someone was infected with both the South African or Brazilian variant, as well as the variant found in the UK, Tang said. Tang added that it is seen with influenza viruses, but is rarer with coronaviruses.
Young said that regardless of changes in B.1.1.7 or any variant of the virus, standard measures to limit transmission – hand washing and social distancing, for example – will prevent infection.
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