Could Future COVID Variants Fully Dodge Our Immune System?

Dangerous COVID Coronavirus Variant Concept

With every new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerges to cause a surge in cases, a worrisome question also arises: Could the virus eventually arrive at a set of mutations that would enable it to fully evade our immune response?

A new study, published in Nature, suggests that it will be hard for the virus to get there. Studying dozens of naturally occurring and laboratory-selected mutations, including those found in Delta and other concerning variants, researchers found that a future SARS-CoV-2 variant will need to pack about 20 of the right mutations to become fully resistant to the antibodies that an average person generates in response to a coronavirus infection or vaccination.

But even if the virus pulls off this genetic feat, it still remains vulnerable to an improved set of antibodies: those arising after natural infection and further boosted through mRNA vaccines.

The findings suggest that our immune system, if properly stimulated, is capable of dealing with the worst that the coronavirus may have to offer for the foreseeable future. “Immunity in people who fought off COVID last year and later received mRNA vaccines is impressively broad,” says Paul Bieniasz, head of the Laboratory of Retrovirology at Rockefeller. “This tells us that although natural infection or the vaccines lead to immunity, they have in no way come close to exhausting the capacity of the human immune system to mount defense against this virus.”

Polymutant viruses

Just as the coronavirus comes in many variants, so do our antibodies. That’s why even the Delta variant, the most contagious version of SARS-CoV-2 so far, doesn’t entirely escape our immune response. It may be dodging some of the antibodies we produce, but not all of them. But Delta is not the last version of SARS-CoV-2 that we are going to see. The virus is still replicating at a high rate in large populations—new mutations are popping up, and new variants are continuously arising.

Postdocs Fabian Schmidt and Yiska Weisblum set out to identify which kinds of mutations give SARS-CoV-2 the edge over antibodies. For the study, they first created a safe stand-in for the coronavirus by tweaking a different, harmless virus to express SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on its surface. As the faux coronaviruses replicated, some picked up mutations as they made mistakes copying themselves. The team then bathed the faux coronaviruses in plasma samples from people who had recovered from COVID, and selected the mutants that escaped neutralization by antibodies. A few rounds of this and the team found many mutations that were in the same locations as those occurring naturally in SARS-CoV-2 variants, including those found in Delta or other variants of concern.

The researchers then created a “polymutant” virus: a faux coronavirus sporting a spike protein featuring 20 of the worst of those mutations all at once. This polymutant showed near-complete resistance to antibodies generated by individuals who have been infected by or vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. “So it is possible for the virus to evolve and evade the majority of our antibodies, but the genetic barrier to that occurring is quite high,” Bieniasz says.

Extra immunity

Findings from one group of people suggest that in the long run, our immune system will win the race against the mutating coronavirus. People who have experienced both natural infection and vaccination produce remarkably effective antibodies. Previously, the Rockefeller team that includes Michel Nussenzweig, Paul Bieniasz, and Theodora Hatziioannou, a research associate professor at Rockefeller, found that after the infection subsides, antibodies continue to evolve over several months, becoming better at binding tighter to the spike protein. Receiving mRNA vaccines strongly boosts those antibodies even more, increasing them in numbers and improving their ability to cope with many of the variants simply by binding tighter and tighter to the original sequence.

In the current study, plasma from those who had been both infected and vaccinated neutralized the polymutant spike. It also neutralized the six SARS-CoV-2 variants tested, as well as the original SARS coronavirus and SARS-like viruses found in bats and pangolins. “Antibodies from this group of people are incredibly potent and flexible,” says Hatziioannou, who co-directed the study. “It’s likely that they offer protection against any SARS-CoV-2 variants in the future and possibly against future coronavirus pandemics.”

More studies would show whether booster shots could lead to a similar improvement of antibodies in vaccinated people who have never been infected with the coronavirus.

Reference: “High genetic barrier to SARS-CoV-2 polyclonal neutralizing antibody escape” by Fabian Schmidt, Yiska Weisblum, Magdalena Rutkowska, Daniel Poston, Justin Da Silva, Fengwen Zhang, Eva Bednarski, Alice Cho, Dennis J. Schaefer-Babajew, Christian Gaebler, Marina Caskey, Michel C. Nussenzweig, Theodora Hatziioannou and Paul D. Bieniasz, 20 September 2021, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04005-0

Note: This article have been indexed to our site. We do not claim legitimacy, ownership or copyright of any of the content above. To see the article at original source Click Here

Related Posts
[Magazine] "40th Anniversary of Founding. The Definitive ATR of Turboprop Machines" Monthly Airline November 2009 Issue thumbnail

[Magazine] “40th Anniversary of Founding. The Definitive ATR of Turboprop Machines” Monthly Airline November 2009 Issue

月刊エアライン 21年11月号  月刊エアライン(イカロス出版)2021年11月号が9月30日発売。1430円(税込)。  「特集『創立40周年。ターボプロップ機の決定版 ATR』  世界のPROP路線を席巻するATR、ここ日本においては北海道エアシステム(HAC)でATR42-600の3機体制が間もなく確立する。  表紙には世界で唯一、ワンワールド塗装をまとうATR機としてフランスで完成したばかりのHAC 3号機の最新カットを選んだ。  本特集では、ATR機材の充足とともにHACから去るサーブ340B-WTの同社初号機JA01HCのラストフライト、サーブ退役プロジェクトの仕事と舞台裏も徹底レポート。  同じくJALグループでATR42-600/ATR72-600を運航する日本エアコミューター(JAC)における 「守ろう! 世界の宝」 特別塗装機の、鹿児島空港格納庫でのデカール作業にも密着した。  さらに、日本での就航から5年、航空機メーカーとしても創立40周年を迎えたATRフリートの回顧と最新トピック、キーマンである同社ステファノ・ボルトリCEOへのインタビュー、新潟空港をベースにATRで2022年夏の新規就航を目指すトキ・エアについても、担当者に話を聞いた。  一方で、日本の空のターボプロップ機はATRだけではない。那覇MRO JapanにおけるANAウイングスDHC-8-Q400への世界自然遺産登録記念デザインのデカール作業、ANAパイロットと整備士が語る Q400、今夏約3年ぶりに那覇=粟国線での運航を再開した第一航空DHC-6-400ツインオッター搭乗レポートなど、「日本の空のPROPエアライン」 を広くひも解いていく。  このほか、成田=ドーハ線QR807便で飛び現地取材したカタール航空2021年最前線、JALグループ世界自然遺産登録記念特別塗装機、JAL A350-900 10号機・11号機到着、ZIPAIR成田=シンガポール線就航などのニュースもお届けする」関連リンク月刊エアライン 2021年11月号(イカロス出版) 雑誌 ・[雑誌]「人生に役立つ マナーの達人になろう」月刊エアステージ 21年11月号 ・「防災ヘリコプター」航空情報 21年11月号 ・「日本=ハワイ最新航路図」月刊エアライン 21年10月号 ・「ブルーインパルス、オリンピック開幕を祝し東京上空に五輪を描く」航空ファン 21年10月号 ・「国際空港のいま / 国内線夏物語」航空旅行 vol.38 書籍『航空・空港政策の展望─アフターコロナを見据えて』 ・中村洋明『新・航空機産業のすべて』 ・『4発JETエンジン機 COMPLETE GUIDE』 ・鳥海高太朗『コロナ後のエアライン』 ・「世界航空機年鑑 2020〜2021年」 ・真山仁『ロッキード』 ・イカロスMOOK『ヒコーキ写真テクニック 2020 Spring Summer』 ・イカロスMOOK『CA&グランドスタッフ筆記試験問題集』 ・Pen+『完全保存版 エアライン最新案内。』 ・大宅邦子『選んだ道が一番いい道』
Read More
Hubble captured a monumentally energetic type of galaxy thumbnail

Hubble captured a monumentally energetic type of galaxy

NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope, using its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), captured an image of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 5728. The image beautifully showing the regions of NGC 5728 that are emitting visible and infrared light. Also known as the Seyfert galaxy, the NCG 5728 is a monumentally energetic type of galaxy. It…
Read More
Solid silicon battery: Cheaper e-cars and more range thumbnail

Solid silicon battery: Cheaper e-cars and more range

© Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash Science 27.09.2021 Forscher*innen konnte eine neue Art Feststoffbatterie mit einer Siliziumanode entwickeln, die viele Probleme löst. Forscher*innen der Universität von San Diego haben gemeinsam mit LG Energy eine Entdeckung gemacht, wodurch sich 2 vielversprechende Arten an Akkutechnologien kombinieren lassen. Sie entwickelten einen Feststoffakku mit einer Siliziumanode. Feststoff-Akkus gelten…
Read More
Index Of News
Consider making some contribution to keep us going. We are donation based team who works to bring the best content to the readers. Every donation matters.
Donate Now

Subscription Form

Liking our Index Of News so far? Would you like to subscribe to receive news updates daily?

Total
0
Share