BREAKING! German And UK Research Indicates That People Infected With SARS-CoV-2 May Have Different Variants Hidden In Various Parts Of The Body!
Source: Medical News - SARS-CoV-2 Variants Mar 01, 2022 2 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 53 minutes ago
The findings from two new studies led by researchers from University of Bristol-UK and Max Planck Institute for Medical Research-Germany shockingly indicates that individuals suffering from COVID-19 could have several different SARS-CoV-2 variants hidden away from the immune system in different parts of the body.
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The researchers warned that this may make complete clearance of the virus from the body of an infected person, by their own antibodies, or by therapeutic antibody treatments, much more difficult.
As the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its emerging variants continues to sweep the globe causing hospitalizations and deaths, damaging communities and economies worldwide, the risk of coinfections and also variants arising within the human hosts is also increasing exponentially.
To date the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 437 million people to be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 according to official figures. In reality that figure could be 3 to 4-fold with a huge majority of these individuals still exhibiting viral persistence.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/yet-another-study-confirms-viral-persistence-in-so-called-covid-19-recovered-patients-this-time-in-breast-and-appendix-tissues-of-two-patients-with-lo
Numerous successive variants of concern (VoC), replaced the original virus from Wuhan, increasingly escaping immune protection offered by vaccination or antibody treatments.
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In these new study findings, comprising two studies published in parallel in the peer reviewed journal: Nature Communications, an international team led by Professor Dr Imre Berger from the University of Bristol and Professor Dr Joachim Spatz from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg , both Directors of the Max Planck Bristol Centre of Minimal Biology, show how the virus can evolve distinctly in different cell types, and adapt its immunity, in the same infected host.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27881-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28446-x
The study team sought to investigate the function of a tailor-made pocket in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the infection cycle of the virus. The pocket, discovered by the Bristol team in an earlier breakthrough, played an essential role in viral infectivity.
Professor Dr Imre Berger told Thailand
Medic
al News, "An incessant series of variants have completely replaced the original virus by now, with Omicron and Omicron 2 dominating worldwide. We analyzed an early variant discovered in Bristol, BrisDelta. It had changed its shape from the original virus, but the pocket we had discovered was there, unaltered."
He further added, “Intriguingly, BrisDelta, presents as a small subpopulation in the samples taken from patients, but appears to infect certain cell-types better than the virus that dominated the first wave of infections.”
Lead author of the BrisDelta study, Dr Kapil Gupta from the School of Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol explains, "Our study findings showed that one can have several different virus variants in one's body. Some of these variants may use kidney or spleen cells as their niche to hide, while the body is busy defending against the dominant virus type. This could make it difficult for the infected patients to get rid of SARS-CoV-2 entirely."
The study team applied cutting-edge synthetic biology techniques, state-of-the-art imaging and cloud computing to decipher viral mechanisms at work.
In order to comprehend the function of the pocket, the study team built synthetic SARS-CoV-2 virions in the test tube, that are mimics of the virus but have a major advantage in that they are safe, as they do not multiply in human cells.
Utilizing these artificial virions, the research team were able to study the exact mechanism of the pocket in viral infection.
The study findings demonstrated that upon binding of a fatty acid, the spike protein decorating the virions changed their shape. This switching 'shape' mechanism effectively cloaks the virus from the immune system.
Lead author of this study and joint member of the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg and the Max Planck Centre in Bristol, Dr Oskar Staufer explains, "By 'ducking down' of the spike protein upon binding of inflammatory fatty acids, the virus becomes less visible to the immune system. This could be a mechanism to avoid detection by the host and a strong immune response for a longer period of time and increase total infection efficiency."
Professor Dr Berger added, "It appears that this pocket, specifically built to recognize these fatty acids, gives SARS-CoV-2 an advantage inside the body of infected individuals, allowing it to multiply so fast. This could explain why it is there, in all variants, including Omicron. Intriguingly, the same feature also provides us with a unique opportunity to defeat the virus, exactly because it is so conserved with a tailormade antiviral molecule that blocks the pocket."
The biotech firm: Halo Therapeutics, a recent University of Bristol spin-out founded by the study team, pursues exactly this approach to develop pocket-binding pan-coronavirus antivirals.
In the meanwhile, while thousands of ignorant individuals out there think that the Omicron is mild and that herd immunity is going to help them, they are going to be in for a rude shock. As we have always been saying at Thailand
Medical News, many are not even aware that they have the reservoirs of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in them that are still mutating and that these viruses are silently killing them!
Please help support this website by making a generous donation not only for the sustainability of the website but also for all our research and community initiatives. We are not funded by any entities and really need help. Your help not only saves lives directly but also indirectly.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/p/sponsorship
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