Neha khan, Jamia Millia Islamia
What is the alpha variant?
The B.1.1.7 variant is known as the Alpha variant which was first found in India and had taken thousands of lives. This coronavirus variant is more infectious than other variants because it foils the innate immune system for a while till it replicates and finds a new host. Researchers of UCSF collaborated with colleagues (not reviewed by the experts), cultured the human respiratory cells which they infected with alpha variant virus and found that it produces smaller number of interferons (a protein produced by the infected cell) as compared to the normal infected cells. This study shows that the Alpha variant hides from our immune system for the production of a large number of viral cells.
How does it evade the immune system?
Researchers found that the infected lung cells produced a large number of viral proteins produced by a gene known as Orf9b. According to Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., director of UCSF’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute and senior author on the study, “These massive amounts of viral proteins can have a significant effect on the human who’s hosting the virus,”. Krogan discovered that these Orf9b binds with human protein to stop the signals which trigger to produce the interferon cells. By slowing the initial immune system response, the virus gets more time to replicate and spread. Krogan said by identifying the pathway of production of gene and proteins which help the alpha variant to spread the infection it points out us to produce potential drugs. Researchers said that the mutation of the virus is causing because of its circulation in a large number of the population.
How can we prevent the formation of a new corona variant?
The adoption of certain precautionary measures can help reduce the spread of the infection. Thus, indirectly this can minimise the chances of the virus to mutate. Some of the precautionary measures are:
- Vaccination
- Wearing mask
- Maintaining social distance
- Good ventilation
- Maintaining good hygiene
- Avoiding crowded gatherings
Why should we still vaccinate ourselves while the virus is mutating?
The only option right now to save ourselves from the severe effects of the disease is to get vaccinated. So, we should opt for vaccination (whichever vaccine is available). It is true that we do not know how effective wil these vaccines be against the various mutated forms of the virus, but there is no other better option for us. Even if the vaccine which we have is less effective, we need to vaccinate ourselves till the time we have more effective solutions or medicines available to combat these mightier variants.
Also read: Every Mutation is Detrimental
References:
- Mutation in Highly Infectious Alpha Variant May Help Coronavirus Evade Immune System- Mutation in Highly Infectious Alpha Variant May Help Coronavirus Evade Immune System | UC San Francisco (ucsf.edu)
- Thorne, L. G., Bouhaddou, M., Reuschl, A.-K., Zuliani-Alvarez, L., Polacco, B., Pelin, A., Batra, J., Whelan, M. V. X., Ummadi, M., Rojc, A., Turner, J., Obernier, K., Braberg, H., Soucheray, M., Richards, A., Chen, K.-H., Harjai, B., Memon, D., Hosmillo, M., … Krogan, N. J. (2021). Evolution of enhanced innate immune evasion by the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 UK variant [Preprint]. Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.06.446826
- The effects of virus variants on COVID-19 vaccines- https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/the-effects-of-virus-variants-on-covid-19-vaccines?gclid=CjwKCAjwrPCGBhALEiwAUl9X00l978JNXidqpvJcq988CX81mCDIN6i7Iq1okVjuahL2KYHd6PhHdBoCemkQAvD_BwE
- The in-text image has been extracted from Rawpixel.
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