The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is protective against the new coronavirus mutation

In December, British researchers discovered that a highly contagious new coronavirus mutant was spreading in the UK.
a fast-spreading new virus mutant has since been found in South Africa.
these rapidly spreading mutants quickly received global attention, not only because they could make the outbreak more difficult to control, but also because of concerns that emerging genetic mutations could invalidate the new crown vaccine in use.
both new strains carry a genetic mutation called N501Y on the prickly protein of the new coronavirus.
this mutation is of particular concern to researchers because it is located in the antibody binding domain (RBD) of the hedgehog protein.
RBD is the key protein domain in which the prickly protein binds to the ACE2 complex on human cells, mediates the entry of the new coronavirus into the cell.
N501Y gene mutation can improve the binding ability of RBD to ACE2 receptors.
Pfizer and Moderna have launched experiments to test the protective effectiveness of their new crown vaccines against these mutants.
recently, researchers from Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch released a new study on the preprinted site bioRxiv, showing that BNT62b2, a new crown vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech, still has the same protection against strains carrying the N501Y gene mutation.
Photo Source: Resources: Researchers introduced the N501Y gene mutation based on the new coronavirus strain (N501) used to develop BNT162b2, resulting in a new strain (Y501) that replaced the original coronary strain with tyrosine (Y) in addition to the amino acid in the 501st bit of the hedgehog protein.
a diagram of the Y501 strain (photo source: Reference 1) and then obtained serum samples from 20 volunteers involved in the clinical trial of the new BNT162b2 vaccine.
the volunteers received two doses of BNT162b2 at intervals of 3 weeks, and serum was taken 2-4 weeks after the second dose.
the researchers tested the medium and titration of 20 serum samples for the two different viruses (N501 and Y501).
results showed that the same serum's moderate and titration of Y501 did not decrease compared to N501, but increased numerically (the higher the titration, the stronger the serum's ability to moderate).
One limitation of the study was that the Y501 virus was not included in all new gene mutations contained in the tinge proteins of the mutant strains found in the UK and South Africa, according to the researchers, who compared the neutrality and titration of the N501 (black) and Y501 viruses (red) (Photo source: Resources.
, they will continue to experiment to assess the protective effects of the new crown vaccine on other mutant strains.
but the results are consistent with previous experiments on 15 other new coronavirus strains, for which BNT162b2 provides the same protective effect.
: This article is intended to introduce medical and health research, not treatment options recommended.
if you need guidance on treatment options, visit a regular hospital.
References: ( 1 ) Xie et al, (2021). Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera. bioRxiv, doi: Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine not affected by mutation seen in contagious coronavirus variant, study indicates. Retrieved January 8, 2021, from