Postgraduate Medical School, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy.
School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy.
J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2021 Jan-Feb;35(1):1-4. doi: 10.23812/21-3-E.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious virus that infects humans and a number of animal species causing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), a respiratory distress syndrome which has provoked a global pandemic and a serious health crisis in most countries across our planet. COVID-19 inflammation is mediated by IL-1, a disease that can cause symptoms such as fever, cough, lung inflammation, thrombosis, stroke, renal failure and headache, to name a few. Strategies that inhibit IL-1 are certainly helpful in COVID-19 and can represent one of the therapeutic options. However, until now, COVID-19 therapy has been scarce and, in many cases, ineffective, since there are no specific drugs other than the vaccine that can solve this serious health problem. Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines which are the newest approach, are already available and will certainly meet the many expectations that the population is waiting for. mRNA vaccines, coated with protected soft fatty lipids, use genetic mRNA (plus various inactive excipients) to make a piece of the coronavirus spike protein, which will instruct the immune system to produce specific antibodies. The soft fatty lipids allow the entry of mRNA into cells where it is absorbed into the cytoplasm and initiates the synthesis of the spike protein. In addition, vaccination also activates T cells that help the immune system respond to further exposure to the coronavirus. mRNA induces the synthesis of antigens of SARS-CoV-2 virus which stimulate the antibody response of the vaccinated person with the production of neutralizing antibodies. The new variant of the coronavirus-19 has been detected in the UK where, at the moment, the London government has imposed a lockdown with restrictions on international movements. The virus variant had already infected 1/4 of the total cases and in December 2020, it reached 2/3 of those infected in the UK. It has been noted that the spreading rate of the British variant could be greater than 70% of cases compared to the normal SARS-CoV-2 virus, with an R index growth of 0.4. Recent studies suggest that coronavirus-19 variation occurs at the level N501Y of the spike protein and involves 23 separate mutations on the spike, 17 of which are linked to the virus proteins, thus giving specific characteristics to the virus. In general, coronaviruses undergo many mutations that are often not decisive for their biological behavior and does not significantly alter the structure and the components of the virus. This phenomenon also occurs in SARS-CoV-2. It is highly probable that the variants recently described in the UK will not hinder vaccine-induced immunity. In fact, the variant will not break the vaccine although it may have some chance of making it a little less effective. Therefore, it is pertinent to think that the vaccine will work against the SARS-CoV-2 variant as well. In today's pandemic, the D614G mutation of the amino acid of corronavirus-19, which emerged in Europe in February 2020 is the most frequent form and causes high viral growth. The previously infrequent D614G mutation is now globally dominant. This variant, which is being tested by many international laboratories, is rapidly spreading across the countries and a series of vaccinated subjects are testing to see if their antibodies can neutralize the new variant of SARS-CoV-2. This variant has a very high viral growth and is less detectable with the RT-PCR technique in the laboratory. It has been reported that the British variant that increases viral load does not cause more severe effects in the respiratory tract and lung disease, therefore, it is certain that the variant is growing rapidly and must be kept under control; for this reason, laboratory data is expected impatiently. The study on the many variants that coronavirus-19 presents is very interesting and complete and clearer data on this topic will be ready in the near future. In addition, it is still unclear whether the different variants discovered in many countries, including Africa, share the same spike protein mutation and therefore, this is another study to elaborate on. In order to be certain and to not have unexpected surprises, we need to reduce the spread and the transmission speed of viral variants that could appear around the world, creating new pandemics. For this reason, the scientific community is on the alert since laboratory tests on serum antibodies from COVID-19 survivors have been reported to be less effective in attacking the variant. In light of the above, the scientific community must be on the alert as larger variants of the spike protein could escape vaccine-induced antibodies, which for now are of great help to the community and can save millions of lives. Deepening the study of spike protein mutations will help to better understand how to combat coronavirus-19 and its variants.
严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 型(SARS-CoV-2)是一种高度传染性的病毒,可感染人类和许多动物物种,导致冠状病毒病 19(COVID-19),这是一种呼吸窘迫综合征,在我们这个星球上的大多数国家引发了全球大流行和严重的健康危机。COVID-19 炎症是由白细胞介素 1(IL-1)介导的,这种疾病会导致发热、咳嗽、肺部炎症、血栓形成、中风、肾衰竭和头痛等症状。抑制白细胞介素 1 的策略在 COVID-19 中肯定是有帮助的,可以作为一种治疗选择。然而,到目前为止,COVID-19 的治疗方法还很缺乏,而且在许多情况下是无效的,因为除了疫苗之外,没有其他特定的药物可以解决这个严重的健康问题。信使 RNA(mRNA)疫苗是最新的方法,已经可用,并且肯定会满足人们所期待的许多期望。mRNA 疫苗,用受保护的软脂脂质包裹,使用遗传 mRNA(加上各种非活性赋形剂)来制造冠状病毒刺突蛋白的一部分,这将指示免疫系统产生特定的抗体。软脂脂质允许 mRNA 进入细胞,在细胞内被吸收到细胞质中,并启动刺突蛋白的合成。此外,接种疫苗还可以激活 T 细胞,帮助免疫系统对进一步接触冠状病毒做出反应。mRNA 诱导 SARS-CoV-2 病毒的抗原合成,刺激接种疫苗的人的抗体反应,产生中和抗体。在英国已经检测到了新型冠状病毒-19,目前伦敦政府已经对国际旅行实施了限制。该病毒变体已经感染了总病例的 1/4,到 2020 年 12 月,在英国感染的病例中占 2/3。据指出,与正常的 SARS-CoV-2 病毒相比,英国变种的传播速度可能超过 70%,R 指数增长 0.4。最近的研究表明,冠状病毒-19 的变异发生在刺突蛋白的 N501Y 水平,涉及刺突上的 23 个单独突变,其中 17 个与病毒蛋白有关,从而赋予病毒特定的特征。一般来说,冠状病毒会发生许多突变,这些突变通常对其生物学行为没有决定性作用,也不会显著改变病毒的结构和成分。这种现象也发生在 SARS-CoV-2 中。最近在英国描述的变种不太可能阻碍疫苗诱导的免疫,这是极有可能的。事实上,这种变体不会破坏疫苗,尽管它可能会使疫苗的效果稍差一些。因此,可以认为疫苗也能对抗 SARS-CoV-2 变体。在当前的大流行中,2020 年 2 月在欧洲出现的冠状病毒-19 的 D614G 氨基酸突变是最常见的形式,导致病毒大量生长。以前不常见的 D614G 突变现在在全球范围内占主导地位。许多国际实验室正在对这种变体进行测试,它正在迅速在各国传播,一系列接种疫苗的受试者正在测试他们的抗体是否能中和 SARS-CoV-2 的新变体。这种变体的病毒生长速度非常快,在实验室的 RT-PCR 技术中检测不到。据报道,增加病毒载量的英国变体不会在呼吸道和肺部疾病中引起更严重的影响,因此,这种变体的生长速度很快,必须加以控制;因此,实验室数据正在急切等待。对冠状病毒-19 所呈现的许多变体的研究非常有趣和完整,关于这个主题的更清晰的数据将在不久的将来准备好。此外,目前还不清楚包括非洲在内的许多国家发现的不同变体是否具有相同的刺突蛋白突变,因此,这是另一个需要详细研究的课题。为了确定无疑,并且不出现意外的惊喜,我们需要降低可能在世界各地出现的病毒变体的传播速度和传播速度,以防止新的大流行。为此,科学界正在保持警惕,因为据报道,COVID-19 幸存者血清抗体的实验室测试在攻击变体时效果较差。有鉴于此,科学界必须保持警惕,因为更大的刺突蛋白变体可能会逃避疫苗诱导的抗体,而目前这些抗体对社区有很大的帮助,可以挽救数百万人的生命。深入研究刺突蛋白突变将有助于更好地了解如何对抗冠状病毒-19 及其变体。