Since June, the number of COVID-19 infections started rising again, as the most transmissible omicron variant started picking up delta variant mutations leading to new subvariants BA.4/BA.5 and Deltacron variants. Out of all the five known variants of concern, which have been shown to evade therapeutic antibodies and vaccines developed against unmutated, original SARS-CoV-2 virus, delta is the most virulent leading to severe symptoms and increased mortality among infected people. A new peer-reviewed study provides answers to why delta is the most lethal variant of SARS-CoV-2.
To answer this critical question, researchers at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences performed robust biophysical analyses on the delta variant and individual mutations that comprise the delta variant.
The study was published in today’s issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology and featured on the journal’s cover.
“Our findings help explain why patients who have been vaccinated are still able to be infected by the new variants and why patients who have contracted the delta variant are more likely to be hospitalized,” said author Krishna Mallela, PhD, professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences located on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Researchers Casey Patrick, Vaibhav Upadhyay and Alexandra Lucas from Mallela’s lab identified the effect of mutated residues in the receptor binding domain (RBD) through which SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 receptors that decrease the neutralization capacity of approved antibodies and polyclonal plasma from recovered patients.
“Due to the fact that we know vaccines are becoming less effective against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, it is important to understand what mutations are causing this decrease in neutralization capacity,” Mallela said.
The scientists outline crucial information on mutated residues that are now frequently occurring in variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Original source can be found here.
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