New SARS-CoV-2 XEC.2 strain with NSP5 mutation V73F detected in 17 countries could be a potential winter threat
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Oct 11, 2024 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 4 hours, 49 minutes ago
Medical News: Researchers and variant trackers have detected the emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 strain, XEC.2, which carries the NSP5 mutation V73F. This strain was identified by a researcher in Arkansas within the past 24 hours.
https://github.com/sars-cov-2-variants/lineage-proposals/issues/2135
New SARS-CoV-2 XEC.2 strain with NSP5 mutation V73F detected in
17 countries could be a potential winter threat
When Thailand
Medical News predicted in August 2024 that the XEC strain could very well become one of the predominant strains in circulation and lead a fall and winter surge, many of the usual group of racist variant hunters on twitter (X Platform) were quick to denounce that XEC could ever compete with the KP.3.1.1 strains and its spawns to become predominant.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/the-sars-cov-2-variants-that-could-drive-the-fall-winter-wave-xec-xed-mb-1-1-mw-1-and-xdv-1-1
Now, in October 2024, we are witnessing that the XEC strain is not only becoming predominant in various countries as it seems to be more transmissible, but is also spawning lots of its own sub-lineages.
Among the XEC.2 sub-lineages, this new XEC.2 strain bearing a NSP.5 mutation V53F has emerged and is showing a degree of viral fitness as 69 sequences have been detected across 17 countries (Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, USA).
The new strain has not been designated a name yet as it depends on the whims and fancies of certain racist overlords to decide so!
Why this particular strain was highlighted by us is because the NSP.5 protein is not only a factor in playing a catalytic role in the cleavage of proteins for viral entry as well as that of polyproteins for replication but it also plays a role in immune evasion as well as driving pathogenesis and causes lung inflammation and damage.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jvi.00037-22
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-biology/articles/10.3389/fsysb.2021.764155/full
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-00878-3
https://compsysbio.ornl.gov/nonstructural-protein-5-nsp5-or-3clpro-3c-like-proteinase/
1000777">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1576988721000777
https://bmcgenomdata.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12863-022-01044-y
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1249607/full
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.02335-21
https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/137/10/jcs262172/352129/SARS-CoV-2-NSP5-antagonizes-MHC-II-expression-by
https://academic.oup.com/jmcb/article/15/4/mjad024/7129007
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/16/13002
While it is early to say whether this V73F mutation will make it more virulent and pathogenic but there is lack of supporting data, so far most of the sequences came from patients who were hospitalized for disease severity.
Among researchers, the V73F mutation in the NSP5 protein of SARS-CoV-2, also known as the 3CL protease, has garnered attention due to its potential impact on the virus's replication and immune evasion mechanisms. NSP5 is a critical enzyme responsible for processing viral polyproteins, which are essential for viral replication. Changes in its structure, like the V73F mutation, can alter its catalytic efficiency and potentially affect viral behavior and pathogenicity.
While the specific functional consequences of the V73F mutation are still being explored, NSP5 mutations generally can influence viral replication by affecting the enzyme's ability to cleave polyproteins, a process crucial for forming the viral replication machinery. Additionally, mutations in NSP5 could also impact the virus’s ability to suppress immune responses, making it harder for the host to fight off the infection.
Such a mutation on the 3CL protease could also undermine current antivirals or repurposed drugs, supplements and even herbs and phytochemicals being used to treat COVID-19 and urgent research is also needed in this respect.
While this new strain could very well not become predominant or even if it gets predominant, gets quickly superseded by even newer emerging strains, it is important that research is urgently focused on the capabilities of this V73F mutation in terms of virulence, pathogenicity, immune evasion etc.
For the latest COVID-19 News, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
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