- A key mutation found in the coronavirus variants in South Africa and Brazil has now been detected in the variant found in the United Kingdom.
- Scientists believe that the E488K mutation may help the coronavirus to avoid antibodies.
- They fear that this could mean that vaccines do not work well or that people will be reinfected.
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The coronavirus variant first found in the UK and spreading across the world appears to be evolving a new mutation that scientists fear may help viruses escape vaccines.
The mutation is also found in variants found in South Africa and Brazil. Scientists believe it allows the virus to escape the antibodies produced by the body after immunization or a previous coronavirus infection. Vaccines and certain medications with antibodies 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 be acquiring this mutation “shows that it is very likely that the virus is adapting to our immune response,” he said.
“The South African variant may be able to more effectively reinfect individuals 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 how long the antibody response lasts.
The variant detected in the United Kingdom was sequenced in 55 different countries, including the USA. There are 342 cases in the U.S., according to reports based on GISAID data.
Novavax vaccine manufacturer said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine worked less well for the variant found in South Africa. Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that its COVID-19 injection was less effective in South Africa. – the scientists suggested that this was due to the E484K mutation.
Pfizer and Moderna said their COVID-19 vaccines work, albeit a little less well, against man-made laboratory variants that contain the mutation. None of the companies have tested against real-world coronavirus variants.
‘Worrying development’
“If this E484K mutation is acquired by most of the UK’s B.1.1.7 variants, recent guarantees from recent studies showing that mRNA vaccines [like Moderna and Pfizers] it will still offer ideal protection against the original UK variant it may no longer apply, “said Dr. Julian Tang, clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, in a statement.
“It is a worrying development, although not entirely unexpected,” said Tang.
Simon Clarke, associate professor of cell microbiology at the University of Reading, said in a statement that while no assessment has been made of the effectiveness of vaccines currently in use in the UK – from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca – it is possible that they may work less well. against B.1.1.7 variants with this mutation.
Virus mutations happen when a virus replicates and makes mistakes. This is a normal process, but 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 may also have occurred because someone was infected with the variant from South Africa or Brazil, as well as with the variant found in the United Kingdom, said Tang. Tang added that this is seen with flu viruses, but is more rare with coronaviruses.
Young said that whatever changes occurred in B.1.1.7 or any other variant of the virus, standard measures to restrict transmission – hand washing and social detachment, for example – will prevent infection.