Markarian Nathan M, Galli Gaël, Patel Dhanesh, Hemmings Mark, Nagpal Priya, Berghuis Albert M, Abrahamyan Levon, Vidal Silvia M
Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
McGill University Research Centre on Complex Traits, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Jul 1;13:933983. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.933983. eCollection 2022.
Since the end of 2019, the world has been challenged by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With COVID-19 cases rising globally, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to evolve, resulting in the emergence of variants of interest (VOI) and of concern (VOC). Of the hundreds of millions infected, immunodeficient patients are one of the vulnerable cohorts that are most susceptible to this virus. These individuals include those with preexisting health conditions and/or those undergoing immunosuppressive treatment (secondary immunodeficiency). In these cases, several researchers have reported chronic infections in the presence of anti-COVID-19 treatments that may potentially lead to the evolution of the virus within the host. Such variations occurred in a variety of viral proteins, including key structural ones involved in pathogenesis such as spike proteins. Tracking and comparing such mutations with those arisen in the general population may provide information about functional sites within the SARS-CoV-2 genome. In this study, we reviewed the current literature regarding the specific features of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised patients and identified recurrent amino acid changes in virus isolates of these patients that can potentially play an important role in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and evolution.
自2019年底以来，世界一直受到2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的挑战。随着全球COVID-19病例的增加，严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）持续演变，导致出现了感兴趣的变异株（VOI）和值得关注的变异株（VOC）。在数亿感染者中，免疫缺陷患者是最易感染这种病毒的脆弱群体之一。这些个体包括那些有基础健康状况的人和/或正在接受免疫抑制治疗的人（继发性免疫缺陷）。在这些情况下，一些研究人员报告称，在接受抗COVID-19治疗的情况下出现了慢性感染，这可能会导致病毒在宿主体内进化。这种变异发生在多种病毒蛋白中，包括参与发病机制的关键结构蛋白，如刺突蛋白。追踪并比较这些突变与普通人群中出现的突变，可能会提供有关SARS-CoV-2基因组内功能位点的信息。在本研究中，我们回顾了当前关于免疫受损患者中SARS-CoV-2进化的特定特征的文献，并确定了这些患者病毒分离株中反复出现的氨基酸变化，这些变化可能在SARS-CoV-2发病机制和进化中发挥重要作用。
