A study published in the journal Nature shows that SARS-CoV-2 can mutate, evolve and evade antibodies and treatment quickly in immunocompromised persons under long-term COVID therapy.
In the case study, researchers said the virus’ spike proteins, which the virus uses to infect other cells, mutated in a 70-year-old cancer patient taking remdesivir, steroids and convalescent plasma.
“The virus was evolving fairly rapidly and adapting to the treatments, especially the plasma,” said David Pollock, one of the study’s co-authors. “There are multiple lines of evidence to support the idea that the plasma caused selection on the variant. And the newly evolved variant protected against convalescent plasma.”
Pollock also said that some of the new virus strains being reported in the news carry some of the same mutations that were observed in the study patient.
SOURCE: CU Anschutz Medical Campus February 11, 2021