Since the pandemic started last year, millions of people have either died as a result of catching COVID-19, were hospitalized, or stayed at home for 1 to 2 weeks and survived the disease without any accident. Scientists think they have found out why people react so differently to the virus with their latest study.
In the study in question, scientists think that individuals infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, respond differently to the virus at an early stage, thanks to a gene called OAS1 – which codes for a certain protein.
Some people have a more protective variant of the OAS1 gene:
Under normal conditions, when the cell is infected, the OAS1 protein triggers events that lead to detecting the virus and activating the RNA-killing enzyme. But a study by scientists at the MRC-Glasgow University Virus Research Center suggested that some people carry a more protective form of OAS1.
What is meant by this protection is the addition of a lipid molecule to the protein encoded by the OAS1 gene. OAS1, which has become more protective because viruses in the COVID-19 family hide inside cells and replicate their genomes in vesicles made of lipids, detect the virus more easily. Therefore, it also directs cellular weapons better.
This is not just a theory. When hospitalized patients were examined, it was seen that the more protective version of the gene produced better results in severe disease. Those who carried the gene that had not yet become protective had worse outcomes, as you can imagine.
When compared, it was stated that these people were 1.6 times more likely to be admitted to intensive care and died.
If the virus exceeds the OAS1 gene, unvaccinated populations will face worst-case scenarios:
One of the predicted sources of the Sars-CoV-2 virus is thought to be horseshoe bats. In these animals, the protective gene is thought to have disappeared about 55 million years ago. In other words, Sars-CoV-2 virus did not have to adapt in history because it did not face this gene. That’s why it’s still effective.
But the researchers said that the coronavirus that caused the SARS epidemic in 2003 had learned to escape the OAS1 protein, which had become more protective. If the same happens for Sars-CoV-2, the virus will become stronger and more contagious in unvaccinated communities, researchers said, adding that the variants on the agenda should be followed closely.
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