The A.30 Coronavirus Variant Warrants Closer Monitoring

The journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology published a peer-reviewed study on October 25, 2021, stating, 'COVID-19 vaccines that protect against severe disease and death are considered central to ending the pandemic.'

However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variants with S protein mutations that confer resistance to neutralization might compromise COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.

Furthermore, emerging viral variants with enhanced transmissibility, likely due to altered virus-host cell interactions, might rapidly spread globally.

Therefore, it is essential to investigate whether emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibit altered host cell interactions and resistance against antibody-mediated neutralization.

'We investigated host cell entry and antibody-mediated neutralization of the variant A.30 (A.VOI.V2), which was detected in several patients in Angola and Sweden in spring 2021 and likely originated in Tanzania.' 

The 'results of our study suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 variant A.30 can evade control by vaccine-induced antibodies and might show an increased capacity to enter cells in a cathepsin L-dependent manner, which might particularly aid in the extrapulmonary spread.'

'Consequently, the potential spread of the A.30 variant warrants close monitoring and rapid installment of countermeasures.'

Note: Open Access funding enabled the study and was organized by Projekt DEAL. And the study authors in Germany declared no competing interests.

Arora, P., Rocha, C., Kempf, A. et al. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variant A.30 is heavily mutated and evades vaccine-induced antibodies with high efficiency. Cell Mol Immunol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-021-00779-5