Harvard Medical School scientists revealed several probable mutations that will allow coronavirus to shy away from immune defense, including natural immunity, acquired as a result of infection or vaccination, as well as reduce the effectiveness of antibody-based treatment. This is reported in the article published in the SCIENCE journal.
The authors of the work warn that the results of the study cannot be directly applicable to the Omicron option, because the behavior of this particular strain will depend on its own unique set of mutations (at least 30 in the S-protein Square) and on how it Competes with other active strains circulating around the world. However, scientists note that the longer the virus continues to replicate in the human body, the greater the likelihood that it will continue to evolve towards greater resistance to immunity and treatment with the help of antibodies.
This means that it is necessary to make as much effort as possible to prevent the proliferation of coronavirus, including mass vaccination all over the world to stop its evolution. It turned out that SARS-COV-2 is inclined to acquire mutations that allow infection to resist neutralizing antibodies, and, as a rule, these options occur in the body of weakened people. Mutations affect the coronavirus S-protein, but it does not worsen its ability to bind to cellular receptors.
Researchers also found one antibody capable of effectively neutralize all the test options. However, they also noted that the virus would be able to evade this antibody if the S-protein there is a single mutation that adds a sugar molecule in the place where the antibody binds to the virus. As for vaccines, the RNA vaccine retains some efficiency against all options, including quite strongly mutating pseudotypes (laboratory virus substitutes unable to transmit).