Rouzine Igor M, Rozhnova Ganna
Immunogenetics, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Jun 19;3(1):86. doi: 10.1038/s43856-023-00320-x.
Once the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine became available, mass vaccination was the main pillar of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was very effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths. Here, we discuss the possibility that mass vaccination might accelerate SARS-CoV-2 evolution in antibody-binding regions compared to natural infection at the population level. Using the evidence of strong genetic variation in antibody-binding regions and taking advantage of the similarity between the envelope proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, we assume that immune selection pressure acting on these regions of the two viruses is similar. We discuss the consequences of this assumption for SARS-CoV-2 evolution in light of mathematical models developed previously for influenza. We further outline the implications of this phenomenon, if our assumptions are confirmed, for the future design of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination strategies.
一旦首款新冠病毒疫苗可用,大规模疫苗接种便成为应对新冠疫情的公共卫生措施的主要支柱。它在减少住院和死亡方面非常有效。在此,我们探讨在群体层面上,与自然感染相比,大规模疫苗接种可能会加速新冠病毒在抗体结合区域进化的可能性。利用抗体结合区域存在强烈基因变异的证据,并借助新冠病毒与流感病毒包膜蛋白之间的相似性,我们假定作用于这两种病毒这些区域的免疫选择压力是相似的。我们根据先前针对流感病毒建立的数学模型,讨论这一假设对新冠病毒进化的影响。如果我们的假设得到证实,我们还将进一步概述这一现象对未来新冠病毒疫苗接种策略设计的影响。