Dominant Alpha variant evolved to evade our innate immune system

Dominant Alpha variant evolved to evade our innate immune system - The SARS-CoV-2 Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant mutated to evade our 'innate immune system', helping establish it as the world's first 'Variant of Concern', finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and the Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California San Francisco. Published in  Nature , the study shows the Alpha variant, first identified in the UK, evolved to make more of its 'antagonism proteins' that nullify the body's first line of defence, known as the 'innate immune system'. Every cell in the nose, throat and lungs (airways) have a network of sensors that detect incoming viruses. When this happens the cells produce the protein interferon, which acts like a 'burglar alarm' and orchestrates a blanket anti-viral response, across both non-immune and immune cells (T cells and antibodies) to avert infection. But antagonism proteins can help the virus to evade these sensors. This novel discovery is the first to identify evolution of enhanced antagonism protein expression in  any  virus and the first to implicate mutations in SARS-CoV-2 that increase infectiousness but do not involve the 'spike' protein Scientists say the breakthrough findings provide a powerful insight into how SARS-CoV-2 is evolving, and offer a fresh clue to help identify new and emerging Variants of Concern, which are both highly transmissible and infectious. Co-first author Dr Lucy Thorne (UCL Division of Infection & Immunity) said: "We wanted to know what made the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant special. How had it evolved from the first wave strain identified in Wuhan, China, and what features did it have that allowed it to spread around the world and become the first variant of concern?