Mengist Hylemariam Mihiretie, Kombe Kombe Arnaud John, Mekonnen Daniel, Abebaw Abtie, Getachew Melese, Jin Tengchuan
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230001, China.
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230027, China.
Semin Immunol. 2021 Jun;55:101533. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2021.101533. Epub 2021 Nov 20.
Responsible for more than 4.9 million deaths so far, COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is instigating devastating effects on the global health care system whose impacts could be longer for the years to come. Acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of host-virus interaction is critical for designing effective vaccines and/or drugs. Understanding the evolution of the virus and the impact of genetic variability on host immune evasion and vaccine efficacy is helpful to design novel strategies to minimize the effects of the emerging variants of concern (VOC). Most vaccines under development and/or in current use target the spike protein owning to its unique function of host receptor binding, relatively conserved nature, potent immunogenicity in inducing neutralizing antibodies, and being a good target of T cell responses. However, emerging SARS-CoV-2 strains are exhibiting variability on the spike protein which could affect the efficacy of vaccines and antibody-based therapies in addition to enhancing viral immune evasion mechanisms. Currently, the degree to which mutations on the spike protein affect immunity and vaccination, and the ability of the current vaccines to confer protection against the emerging variants attracts much attention. This review discusses the implications of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mutations on immune evasion and vaccine-induced immunity and forward directions which could contribute to future studies focusing on designing effective vaccines and/or immunotherapies to consider viral evolution. Combining vaccines derived from different regions of the spike protein that boost both the humoral and cellular wings of adaptive immunity could be the best options to cope with the emerging VOC.
截至目前，由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）已导致超过490万人死亡，对全球医疗保健系统造成了毁灭性影响，其影响在未来数年可能会持续更长时间。全面了解宿主与病毒的相互作用对于设计有效的疫苗和/或药物至关重要。了解病毒的进化以及基因变异性对宿主免疫逃逸和疫苗效力的影响，有助于设计新策略，以尽量减少新出现的值得关注的变异株（VOC）的影响。大多数正在研发和/或目前使用的疫苗都靶向刺突蛋白，这是因为其具有独特的宿主受体结合功能、相对保守的性质、在诱导中和抗体方面具有强大的免疫原性，并且是T细胞反应的良好靶点。然而，新出现的SARS-CoV-2毒株在刺突蛋白上表现出变异性，这除了增强病毒免疫逃逸机制外，还可能影响疫苗和基于抗体的疗法的效力。目前，刺突蛋白上的突变对免疫和疫苗接种的影响程度，以及当前疫苗对新出现变异株的保护能力备受关注。本综述讨论了SARS-CoV-2刺突蛋白突变对免疫逃逸和疫苗诱导免疫的影响，以及有助于未来研究的方向，这些研究侧重于设计有效的疫苗和/或免疫疗法时考虑病毒进化。结合来自刺突蛋白不同区域的疫苗，以增强适应性免疫的体液和细胞分支，可能是应对新出现的VOC的最佳选择。
