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When everything seemed to be going well, with the curves of the second wave flexing and the vaccine inoculations already started in some countries, the new Coronavirus presents a new threat. Sars-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, one of those states that has already started the vaccination campaign, has been revealed with a variant of the protein. spike. The tip of the crown characteristic of this type of virus, which allows the pathogen to enter cells, has mutated.
In theory, the mutation could compromise the efficacy of mRNA vaccines, including those from Moderna and Pfizer, which activate the generation of antibodies capable of countering that protein. Although Massimo Clementi, director of the microbiology and virology laboratory at the San Raffaele hospital, asks for caution when drawing conclusions: “There is very little scientific in what has been published so far. We only have one sequence that shows a minimal difference in protein spike“. This type of mutations, emphasizes the professor, are generally of two types:” Either they end up hindering the virus itself, causing its extinction, or they fixate on a Darwinian selection mechanism, when these mutations make the virus more efficient ” .
Antonella Viola, an immunologist at the University of Padua, seems surprised by the news that the English mutation worries more than the others, since “this virus has had several mutations that have accumulated over time, and some of them refer to peak protein. ” For the doctor, “the British variant must be kept under control due to its multiple alterations”, but both doctors agree that it is too early to understand if this strain of the virus will affect the success of the vaccination campaign. From the point of view of its transmission capacity, “we still do not know if this variant has any advantage”, says Viola, “and it would not seem more pathogenic than the others – Clementi relaunches. British doctors say that it is transmitted more efficiently, but to affirm this we need first in vitro studies, then evaluate with an epidemiological study in the population.
Alarm for the vaccination campaign
The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in order not to jeopardize the vaccination before the appearance of this new variant, has announced a new blockade for the holidays. Some doubts arise, given that Johnson had spoken in various places for a free Christmas: this variant could have been used as a political alibi to backtrack on his own decisions. Clementi ventilates this hypothesis because, according to the news circulating at this time, this variant may not create such serious problems for the vaccination campaign. «I deduce it from a fact: in the United Kingdom we are talking about 60% of all infections attributable to this variant. Only yesterday, December 19, the British vaccinated more than 250 thousand people: the campaign has started some time ago and certainly some of those vaccinated have come into contact with this variant, without encountering any problem.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines develop immunity to protein spike, “The most important for infection.” Working with this type of protein makes sense because, if the biological drug works, the virus is blocked before entering the cell. “I’m not surprised that vaccines in production also seem to work with the British variant,” concludes Clementi. The protein spike it is the key that the virus uses to enter the cell, if it changes too much the infection process stops working: obviously, the mutation was not radical. On the other hand, Dr Viola seems to be concerned about two factors: “If the British variant has a higher infectivity rate, things get worse because the virus spreads faster. And the slightest possibility that vaccines will not work should alarm us. “
Why are mRNA vaccines at risk?
“It would be a big problem if the weapons we developed in this terrible year – vaccines and monoclonal antibodies – didn’t work for one variation of the virus.” The immunologist considers it necessary to immediately verify the efficacy of vaccines and antibodies, believing that mutations in the spike protein are always risky and should be monitored. Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and all mRNA vaccines produce neutralizing antibodies against the peak. The situation with inactivated virus-based vaccines such as the Chinese ones is different: “They are broad-spectrum vaccines. In addition to the beak -explains Viola-, the complete virus is inoculated. Then other proteins could act as activators of the immune system, generate antibodies, lymphocytes. A more complex response that, in the case of the British variant, could be more efficient than mRNA vaccines.
Vaccines like Moderna’s and Pfizer’s actually work like this: They send an alphanumeric code into cells, “inducing the expression of a spike protein, thereby allowing the immune system to recognize only the spike protein.” What if the British variant spread further and undermined the efficacy of mRNA vaccines? “The good thing about this type of vaccine, which has been widely studied in the field of oncology, is that it is not difficult to vary this alphanumeric code. It’s about writing this sequence of codes and putting it in a lipid box. ‘ If the virus changes, it should not be difficult to intervene on the vaccine already studied, modify the code and produce doses capable of responding to new variants.
The advantages of this type of vaccine are at least three: they are less expensive, it is easier and faster to produce them in large quantities, since it is not necessary to have large virus cultures in laboratories, and they do not contain viruses, even if they are inactive. that it is simply to inoculate. information for the immune system. “It is as if, instead of establishing a laboratory to grow large quantities of viruses, we were giving cells the information they need to become a coronavirus response laboratory. It’s no coincidence that Pfizer and Moderna got there faster, ”Viola concludes. MRNA vaccines are faster to produce. Only time will tell us if they will also be the best.
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