Since June, the number of COVID-19 infections started rising again, as the most transmissible omicron variant started picking up delta variant mutations leading to new subvariants BA.4/BA.5 and Deltacron variants.
Out of all the five known variants of concern, which have been shown to evade therapeutic antibodies and vaccines developed against unmutated, original SARS-CoV-2 virus, delta is the most virulent leading to severe symptoms and increased mortality among infected people.
Now Scientists from the University of Colorado found answers to why delta is the most lethal variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The research was published in the Journal of Molecular Biology and was conducted by Krishna Mallela et al.
In the study, the team performed robust biophysical analyses on the delta variant and individual mutations that comprise the Delta variant.
They identified the effect of mutated residues in the receptor binding domain (RBD) through which SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 receptors that decrease the neutralization capacity of approved antibodies and polyclonal plasma from recovered patients.
The scientists outline crucial information on mutated residues that are now frequently occurring in variants of SARS-CoV-2.
They found delta displayed unique biophysical characteristics, unlike the previous variants alpha, beta, and gamma.
The human immune system generates antibodies to neutralize the virus in response to virus infection.
These neutralizing antibodies have been classified into different classes, depending on their epitope location on the RBD, and some of these antibodies have previously been approved for emergency use by the FDA.
The findings help explain why patients who have been vaccinated are still able to be infected by the new variants and why patients who have contracted the delta variant are more likely to be hospitalized.
The results indicate that the immune escape from neutralizing antibodies is the main biophysical parameter that is determining the fitness landscape of the emerging variants.
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