Omicron.  Dr. Love.  Piotr Rzymski: Record Number of Variable Mutations

Expert in medical biology and research at the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medicine in Pozna, Dr. Hap. n. medicine. Peter of Rome Emphasize that the level of knowledge about him Variant of Omikron Still too young to make definite judgments about it. He pointed out that the results of the research are of key importance in this aspect. At the same time, he cautioned against being “cautious” about partial search results, which – as he pointed out – do not definitively identify a particular issue.

See also: Omicron in Japan. Residents support stricter border controls

– As for the results of the research, soon we will hear about the results of the research on how the Omikron variant affects the neutralizing power of antibodies. These are studies that can be done very quickly, using the serum of vaccinated people, as well as convalescent or convalescent serum, to see, under experimental and laboratory conditions, how these antibodies adapt compared to the mutant spike protein of the omicron variant – he explained.

Such studies have also been conducted before on other variables and have resulted in them in the past.Media panic“And the fear that a particular variant would cancel out the efficacy of the developed vaccines. This was the case for the beta variant, the South African variant, which in fact in this type of research avoided the work of neutralizing antibodies well, but didn’t eventually turn out to be a world-dominated variant, And it’s a variant – Omikron omitted, because in his case we don’t know it yet – of all the variants known so far, which have best survived antibody responses – he added.

Roman pointed out that until then scholars confirmed this Research “This is just a small part of the reality about immune system function The vaccinated person, which is analyzed and cannot be extrapolated, to be expanded to include other components of a specific immune system response because they require completely different tests.

In other words, even if a variant is easier to handle with antibodies, at most that means it has a better chance of infecting the cell. He explained that bypassing the antibodies does not bypass all immunity, because there is still cellular immunity in the immaculate people, who are vaccinated, and the purpose of which is to identify and eliminate some infected cells.

He noted that it could be described in military language. – Antibodies are such crosslinks. Sometimes the enemy passes through them, because he attacks with great force, and other times he is better disguised. It enters the territory of our body, but an army is stationed there that has a description of the aggressor and knows how to operate. So it is quickly attacked before it can go deep and cause havoc. On the occasion of this fight, he said, clinical symptoms may appear, but they are generally very mild, and sometimes we do not even know that such a fight has occurred.

The expert emphasized that experiments with other variants teach that “vaccinated people, who have not been vaccinated with preparations optimized for the delta variant, are characterized by a cellular response from which the delta variant cannot escape. Of course, if their immune system responds correctly to vaccination.”

It is possible to hear that the Omikron variant reduces the neutralizing power of antibodies, but this does not immediately mean major problems. He stressed that this could mean that the risk of infection in the vaccinated person would be higher than in the case of other variants, but that it would not necessarily translate into a higher risk of severe infection.

Moreover, we know that in infected and previously vaccinated people, the elimination time is greatly shortened. what does that mean? The frequency of mutations is limited, and the chance of transmitting this virus to another person is also reduced. Will this be the case with the Omikron variant? We do not know this at the moment, but we can expect it – he added.

Rzymski emphasized that the Omikron variant has already been “hailed” as the record holder, but it’s worth knowing how big these mutations are.

– The Omikron variant has accumulated a total of about 50 mutations, of which more than 30 relate to changes in the spike protein. Even if this number of changes in the spike protein is record-breaking, these are changes for about 30 amino acids, yet this protein contains about 1,270 – and I think that shows us the magnitude of the changes. On the one hand, it broke records, and on the other hand, it is not as large as we can imagine. He stressed that it is still the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which you should protect yourself from in the same way you protect any other type.

The expert noted that some cumulative mutations in the Omikron variant are already known from the Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants or occur in the delta variant.

– Therefore, we can expect that the Omikron variator will be a fairly good transmission type. In any case, it quickly appeared in different parts of the world. It has, among other things known mutations of the delta variant, which increase the affinity of the barbed protein to the receptors located on the surface of our cells and accelerate its fusion with the membrane. However, we can’t say exactly at the moment that it will be, say, a certain percentage more contagious. We can see that its share in South Africa is increasing for the delta variant, but remember that in this region not much analysis is done at the genome level. We have to wait for data from other parts of the world, such as the United States or Great Britain, he said.

See also: Croatia. First omicron infection

Referring to mutations related to the spike protein, he noted that some of them relate to a region called the receptor-binding domain. This is the little piece of spike protein that is touching the receptor on the surface of our cells for the first time.

– Seeing a relatively large number of changes in this segment, we can expect that this variant will not be well recognized by neutralizing antibodies. It is they who, by attacking the receptor-binding domain, prevent the virus from infecting the cell. In addition, given the profile of these mutations in the Omikron variant, we can conclude that this is a variant that transmits well, and perhaps more. The question is before how much? He pleaded with scientific research to provide answers, but let us be patient.

He added, “The success of the Omikron variant can be determined by the outcome of these two features: high permeability and significant antibody escaping.” – But will Omikron remove the Delta variant – just as Delta eliminated the Alpha variant to the point that Alpha in Europe has been removed from the set of variants of concern? He stressed that we don’t know this yet, and we will definitely see a fortress on the coronavirus scene.

“While waiting for the results of the research on the Omikron variant, it is worth taking a booster dose. And whoever has not yet been vaccinated, it is best to do so, because their immune system will be in an advantaged position,” Rzymski noted. He noted that “the cellular response has to deal with it, even if it penetrates the antibody crosslink.”

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