Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is effective against a key mutation found in variants of the virus that spread faster than the original strain, according to a previous study.
Although viruses mutate all the time, scientists fear that some of the new mutations in the new coronavirus, specifically those in a new variant discovered in South Africa, could make vaccines less effective, Live Science previously reported. The South Africa variant, known as 501.V2, as well as another variant discovered in the UK known as B.1.1.7, both seem to spread more easily than the original virus, probably because they both have some of the same mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the weapon the virus uses to invade human cells.
Scientists are now working to understand how these mutations can affect the effectiveness of Vaccines for covid-19. A group of researchers from Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston generated a version of the coronavirus that included a mutation called N501Y, which is present in the spike protein of both variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
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This mutation is a “particular concern” because it is located at the binding site of the spike protein and is known to increase the virus’s ability to bind to human cells, the authors wrote in the study, published Jan. 7 in the database. prepress bioRxiv, and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
To find out how the mutation can affect vaccines, the researchers compared how a virus with this new mutation fared against the vaccine, compared to an earlier version of the virus that did not carry that mutation. To do this, they tested whether the viruses were neutralized in blood samples collected from 20 people who had previously been vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; since these people had been vaccinated, their blood samples contained molecules that could fight the virus, including so-called neutralizing antibodies that prevent the coronavirus from entering cells in the first place.
There was no “reduction in neutralization activity against the virus carrying the” new mutation, the researchers wrote in the study. However, a “limitation” of the study is that the researchers did not test a variant that included all of the mutations found in the peak proteins of the rapidly spreading strains in the United Kingdom and South Africa, they wrote.
But researchers are investigating these other mutations in additional studies, Phil Dormitzer, vice president at Pfizer and scientific director of viral vaccines, told STAT. Moderna and AstraZeneca are also conducting similar experiments, according to the Associated Press.
As the SARS-CoV-2 virus, like other viruses, will continue to evolve, it is important to monitor them continuously for mutations that could affect the effectiveness of the vaccine and be prepared for the possibility of a future mutation that would require changes in vaccines, the researchers wrote.
“This vaccine update would be facilitated by the flexibility of mRNA-based vaccine technology, “they added.
In other words, since both Pfizer and Moderna created mRNA-based vaccines, researchers would only need to exchange the genetic code they used to code the spike protein in those vaccines for a new version that includes the new mutations, Live Science previously reported. “These data do not suggest the need for a change, but the mutations are reaching close enough to home that we need to be prepared,” Dormitzer told STAT.
Originally published on Live Science.