COVID-19 mutations found that help it not bind to antibodies – Diseases

American researchers have found mutations in the coronavirus that help it avoid binding to antibodies, and they are currently the main means of fighting the disease, TASS reported, cited by BTA.

Scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Center for Cancer Research published an article on the study results in the bioRxiv electronic library.

“The maps created allow us to assess the extent to which these mutations are present in the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In mid-November, we found a significant number of viral mutations that escaped from antibodies in humans. One of them is associated with one outbreak of infection among minks in the Netherlands and Denmark, the other has been seen in Scotland and Ireland, “the article reads.

The mutations studied are of the peak protein of the coronavirus and RBD, its key part. The virus uses it to penetrate cells. In this case, the mutations mask the virus with antibodies.

Mutations do not accelerate the spread of the coronavirus

Previously, another group of American molecular biologists discovered an unexpectedly large role for cellular immunity in protection against COVID-19, finding that even low concentrations of antibodies protect experimental monkeys from coronavirus infection at high levels of activity in certain subtypes. of T cells.