Coronavirus D614G mutation: Will it impact COVID-19 vaccines efficacy? Heres what experts say – Times Now

Coronavirus D614G mutation: Will it impact COVID-19 vaccines efficacy? Heres what experts say  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

New Delhi:Mutations in the spike proteinofSARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease, have triggered serious concerns about needing different vaccines and therapies for different variants. On Sunday, a mutation of coronavirus, dubbed D614G, that is 10 times more infectious than COVID-10 has been detected in Malaysia, media reported.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), scientists detected the mutation as early as February 2020 and it has circulated in Europe and the Americas. WHO had said theres no evidence that the mutation can result in more severe illness.

The report cited Malaysias Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah who urged greater public vigilance after authorities detected the new strain of coronavirus (D614G) in two recent clusters. Similar discoveries in other countries, including India and Japan, were reported amid the pandemic, triggering public concerns over the efficacy of experimental coronavirus vaccines. Noor Hisham also warned COVID-19 vaccines currently being developed may not be effective against the new coronavirus strain.

As the new coronavirus continues to reproduce and spread worldwide, researchers are tracking the mutations to ensure that changes in the virus do not make it more challenging to treat or develop a vaccine. Scientists and health researchers across the world are exploring different methods for investigation - including various small molecule approaches targeting RNA polymerase, 3C-like protease, and RNA endonuclease, as well as exploration of antibodies obtained from convalescent plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19.

Researchers studying the virus have found that the coronavirus genome is highly prone to mutations that lead to genetic drift and escape from immune recognition. Therefore, it is imperative that sub-strains with different mutations are also accounted for during vaccine development, noted scientists at the IMB Cambridge Scientific Center. The scientists also noted that the emergence of drift variants may affect vaccine development and antibody treatment.

However, experts from China claimed that mutations in coronavirus would not change the efficacy of drugs.

It is normal for a virus to mutate in different countries and even in different areas of one country, as a virus has to adapt to local people's DNA and the local environment, Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Monday.

According to the Chinese experts, a certain strain will form a new strain if more than 20 per cent of its genetic information mutates, which may cause current vaccines to lose effectiveness, but there is a low possibility. This is due to the fact that mutations do not necessarily affect the target site of the vaccine, added the report quoting the experts. Further, thevaccines being developed normally cover more than one target site to ensure efficacy, the experts noted.

The Chinese experts also added researchers could make changes to the existing vaccines for new strains - such as the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine at different valences to suit different types of HPV.

Also, a study of China WHO showed that the G614 variant remained susceptible to neutralisation by antibodies isolated from infected patients. An amino acid change (D614G) outside the RBD was found to be more infectious, but no evidence of being resistant to neutralizing antibodies has been demonstrated, they said.

A review published in Cell in July by Nathan DGrubaugh, an assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale School of Public Health, and co-workers remarked antibodies built from natural D614 and G614 infections can cross-neutralise - which means that antibodies made against D614 could work for G614, and vice-versa.

The D614G mutation is therefore unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently in the pipeline, some of which exclusively target the RBD, Prof. Grubaugh et al. noted.

Experts also pointed out that there is really no reason for developing two vaccines as almost all circulating SARS-CoV-2 around the world is the G614 variant now.

Besides, Paul Tambyah, senior consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the US-based International Society of Infectious Diseases, told Reuters that the D614G mutation is not likely to impact the efficacy of a potential vaccine. According to Tambyah, the mutation may be, in fact,a good thing as it appears less deadly although it has been found to be more infectious.

That said, its important to note that the SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus thats evolving rapidly and scientists are still learning about it. Hence, more research is required to know the impactof the virus mutations on the disease, transmission, vaccine and other therapeutic development.

The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way represent those of Times Network.

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Coronavirus D614G mutation: Will it impact COVID-19 vaccines efficacy? Heres what experts say - Times Now