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In a few cases, the British coronavirus variant has developed a mutation that could help it evade current vaccines, according to press reports.
The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was first identified in the UK in September 2020 and has since spread around the world, Previously reported Live Science. This variant is more contagious than previous versions of the coronavirus.
On Monday (February 1), UK officials revealed that out of around 214,000 samples of the variant that had undergone genetic sequencing, they had identified 11 samples that had acquired a mutation known as E484K, according to government documents.
This mutation has been seen before – most notably in another variant of the coronavirus called B.1.351, which was first identified in South Africa in October 2020. Officials are concerned about the mutation because it could impact the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. Indeed, data from several vaccine manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, has shown their COVID-19 vaccines to be less effective in South Africa, where B.1.351 is dominant.
Related: Variant of the South African coronavirus: all your questions answered
The E484K mutation can reduce the ability of some antibodies to neutralize or inactivate the virus before it enters cells. Previously reported Live Science.
Still, seeing the E484K mutation appear in the UK variant doesn’t necessarily mean that this variant will become both more contagious and vaccine resistant, according to The New York Times. This is because the E484K mutation may not have the same effect in the British variant as in the South African variant; The impact of each mutation on a given strain depends on the precise genetic makeup of the strain, including any other mutations it carries, reported The Times.
The E484K mutation has also appeared in new coronavirus variants in Brazil. Experts are still working to understand how the mutation benefits the virus.
This mutation occurs in the receptor binding domain (RBD), where the virus is first found on human cells. Neutralizing antibodies that prevent the virus from entering cells bind to this location, so changes in RBD may make it more difficult for these antibodies to recognize variants with the E484K mutation, according to STAT News. Variants with this mutation can spread more easily in populations where many people have already had COVID-19, allowing re-infections in people who have previously had antibodies.
The mutation “may well confer a fitness advantage in settings where there is existing immunity” to the virus, Nicholas Davies, a mathematical biologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told The Times.
But so far samples of B.1.1.7 with the E484K mutation appear to be very rare, and it is not known if versions of B.1.1.7 with this mutation will take off in the UK. “I think this is ‘is potentially worrying, but difficult to tell from the report what that means, ”Davies said.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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