Covid mutations

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The SARS-CoV-2 virus is known to mutate in a patient's body to avoid the antibody or immune system. This mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to allow it to evade the immune system and inhibit the resistance activity of antibodies.

This fact makes scientists think about the consequences of the efficacy of vaccines or antibody therapies such as blood plasma therapy or monoclonal antibody therapy. How do viruses mutate and circumvent the body's antibody response?

Mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that cause COVID-19 can avoid antibodies

A study recently published in BioRxiv suggests that the widespread mutated variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has the potential to evade the immune response.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have identified thousands of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations in the viral genome (genetics) taken from samples of COVID-19 patients. In this latest study, David Robertson of the University of Glasgow and his colleagues examined a mutation called N439K.

The mutation of the virus that causes this type of COVID-19 occurs in the protein part of the virus, which is the outermost part of the virus which functions to open the entrance and function to attack body cells.

In laboratory experiments, the researchers found that the mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 can inhibit antibody activity against the virus. In fact, the antibodies used in the experiment are fairly strong antibodies.

Antibodies whose activity is blocked by the mutation of the N439k type are antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients and monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic antibodies made in the laboratory, these synthetic antibodies are currently being studied for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

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This mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can occur in the patient's body

Studies on the ability of this virus to mutate in the human body are carried out by experts at Brigham and Women's Hospital , one of the teaching hospitals associated with Harvard Medical School .

These specialists watched a 45-year-old male COVID-19 patient. This patient has had a long-standing comorbid autoimmune disorder and is undergoing treatment with immunosuppressants. Approximately 40 days after testing positive, this man underwent a follow-up test with results showing that the virus levels in his body had decreased.

But then it reappeared and surged even though he was still on antiviral medication therapy. This patient's infection subsided again and again came back. The disappearance and appearance of the virus in the patient's body occurred twice before the patient died after 5 months of fighting COVID-19.

Analysis of the genome (genetics) of this patient's body showed that he was not reinfected, but the virus that first infected him mutated rapidly in his body. This is an important note on how the mutation process of the SARS-CoV-2 virus occurs so that it can evade the body's antibody system.