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SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness

In late 2020, after circulating for almost a year in the human population, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exhibited a major step change in its adaptation to humans. These highly mutated forms of SARS-CoV-2 had enhanced rates of transmission relative to previous variants...

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Autores principales: Carabelli, Alessandro M., Peacock, Thomas P., Thorne, Lucy G., Harvey, William T., Hughes, Joseph, Peacock, Sharon J., Barclay, Wendy S., de Silva, Thushan I., Towers, Greg J., Robertson, David L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9847462/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36653446
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00841-7
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author Carabelli, Alessandro M.
Peacock, Thomas P.
Thorne, Lucy G.
Harvey, William T.
Hughes, Joseph
Peacock, Sharon J.
Barclay, Wendy S.
de Silva, Thushan I.
Towers, Greg J.
Robertson, David L.
author_facet Carabelli, Alessandro M.
Peacock, Thomas P.
Thorne, Lucy G.
Harvey, William T.
Hughes, Joseph
Peacock, Sharon J.
Barclay, Wendy S.
de Silva, Thushan I.
Towers, Greg J.
Robertson, David L.
author_sort Carabelli, Alessandro M.
collection PubMed
description In late 2020, after circulating for almost a year in the human population, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exhibited a major step change in its adaptation to humans. These highly mutated forms of SARS-CoV-2 had enhanced rates of transmission relative to previous variants and were termed ‘variants of concern’ (VOCs). Designated Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron, the VOCs emerged independently from one another, and in turn each rapidly became dominant, regionally or globally, outcompeting previous variants. The success of each VOC relative to the previously dominant variant was enabled by altered intrinsic functional properties of the virus and, to various degrees, changes to virus antigenicity conferring the ability to evade a primed immune response. The increased virus fitness associated with VOCs is the result of a complex interplay of virus biology in the context of changing human immunity due to both vaccination and prior infection. In this Review, we summarize the literature on the relative transmissibility and antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the role of mutations at the furin spike cleavage site and of non-spike proteins, the potential importance of recombination to virus success, and SARS-CoV-2 evolution in the context of T cells, innate immunity and population immunity. SARS-CoV-2 shows a complicated relationship among virus antigenicity, transmission and virulence, which has unpredictable implications for the future trajectory and disease burden of COVID-19.
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spelling pubmed-98474622023-01-18 SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness Carabelli, Alessandro M. Peacock, Thomas P. Thorne, Lucy G. Harvey, William T. Hughes, Joseph Peacock, Sharon J. Barclay, Wendy S. de Silva, Thushan I. Towers, Greg J. Robertson, David L. Nat Rev Microbiol Review Article In late 2020, after circulating for almost a year in the human population, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exhibited a major step change in its adaptation to humans. These highly mutated forms of SARS-CoV-2 had enhanced rates of transmission relative to previous variants and were termed ‘variants of concern’ (VOCs). Designated Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron, the VOCs emerged independently from one another, and in turn each rapidly became dominant, regionally or globally, outcompeting previous variants. The success of each VOC relative to the previously dominant variant was enabled by altered intrinsic functional properties of the virus and, to various degrees, changes to virus antigenicity conferring the ability to evade a primed immune response. The increased virus fitness associated with VOCs is the result of a complex interplay of virus biology in the context of changing human immunity due to both vaccination and prior infection. In this Review, we summarize the literature on the relative transmissibility and antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the role of mutations at the furin spike cleavage site and of non-spike proteins, the potential importance of recombination to virus success, and SARS-CoV-2 evolution in the context of T cells, innate immunity and population immunity. SARS-CoV-2 shows a complicated relationship among virus antigenicity, transmission and virulence, which has unpredictable implications for the future trajectory and disease burden of COVID-19. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-01-18 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC9847462/ /pubmed/36653446 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00841-7 Text en © Springer Nature Limited 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Review Article
Carabelli, Alessandro M.
Peacock, Thomas P.
Thorne, Lucy G.
Harvey, William T.
Hughes, Joseph
Peacock, Sharon J.
Barclay, Wendy S.
de Silva, Thushan I.
Towers, Greg J.
Robertson, David L.
SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title_full SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title_fullStr SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title_full_unstemmed SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title_short SARS-CoV-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
title_sort sars-cov-2 variant biology: immune escape, transmission and fitness
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9847462/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36653446
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00841-7
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