According to a recent study published in Nature Cellular and Molecular Immunology, a rare variant of COVID-19 detected in multiple patients in Angola and Sweden in the spring of 2021 may be extremely successful at being immune to vaccine-derived antibodies. First detected in Tanzania in February, variant A. 30 may pose a distinct threat in a world increasingly reliant on vaccines to protect against coronavirus, but for now it is in isolation.
A. 30 can be defined as an extension of the A lineage, which is thought to be the root of the epidemic and was among the first to be identified. However, with multiple mutations in the Spike protein, the strain compared with the Beta (B. 1.351) and Eta (B. 1.525) variants in this study appears to differ markedly from other variants. Notably, some of these mutations are in two separate domains that are directly targeted by neutralizing antibodies, meaning that the vaccine may not perform well against A.
Since its discovery in Tanzania, there have been very few cases of A. 30 with 3 series from Angola and 1 from Sweden. For this reason, very little research has been done on the variant.
To explore how dangerous the variant could be, researchers from Göttingen, Germany, used multiple human cell lines to examine how successfully the virus could infect host cells, and then exposed them to post-vaccination neutralizing antibodies against mutations carried by A. they checked if the effectiveness is still the same.
Compared to Beta and Eta, A. 30; entry into most host cells, including kidney, liver, and lung cells, was significantly more successful and resistant to a monoclonal antibody therapy currently used against COVID-19 (bamlanivimab); however, it was sensitive to combined therapy of other monoclonal antibodies (bamlanivimab and etesevimab).
When tested against vaccine-derived antibodies from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines, A. 30 was more resistant than the other variants tested.
The researchers conclude that this variant, which has a toolkit to effectively evade existing vaccines, may be more successful at entering cells. These results suggest that A. 30 should be closely monitored in the coming months and countries should prioritize preventative measures to stop an outbreak if A. 30 becomes more prevalent.
However, this strain is not currently classified by WHO as a Variant of Concern or Concern, possibly due to its low prevalence. . .
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