Sunday Times22 Nov 2020 07:46
British scientists are monitoring 4,000 mutations of the coronavirus amid concern that new strains may resist vaccines and treatments.
Ministers are investing millions of pounds to study different types after learning that a vaccine could cause an explosion in mutations. This is a natural reaction as the virus tries to avoid extinction. Experts say some variations that try to fend off antibodies are already spreading across the country.
In her first interview as director of the Covid-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, a body set up to deliver fast genetic analysis of the virus to the NHS, Professor Sharon Pea**** said it was vital to step up surveillance because many of the vaccines target the same spike protein on the virus surface. This protein is the needle-like part of the virus that enables it to invade human cells.
The first two vaccine candidates to show promise, from Pfizer and Moderna, work by causing cells in the body to make a version of the spike protein for the immune system to recognise. “Once we start to use vaccines in the general population, that will put an evolutionary driver, a selection pressure, on viruses,” she said. “Viruses are going to want to escape the effect of vaccines, because that’s what evolution is about.”
Scientists believe that since the virus emerged in Wuhan, China, a year ago, there are now tens of thousands of mutations circulating globally.
Just like the viruses that spark measles and flu, the genetic code of the coronavirus is made up of ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is more prone to mutations than DNA. The majority are harmless and a “small number” may even be of benefit to humans, Pea**** said. Most mutations in the pandemic have vanished as quickly as they emerged. But Pea**** and her team are increasingly concerned about mutations that involve the spike protein. Anything that can change this “spike” could affect how well vaccines work.
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