TRIESTE. Twenty variants of the coronavirus had already been predicted in December by a group of researchers from the University of Trieste, able to discover in advance also the mutation that characterizes the most aggressive variants today, namely the English, the South African and the Brazilian. The other variants identified by the Trieste researchers in December, still unnamed and on which there is currently insufficient clinical data, were then actually detected in the world population in recent weeks, and reported in the databases made available to the scientific community: eight of these are considered potentially dangerous.
The results obtained by the Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MolBNL @ UniTS) research team, led by Sabrina Pricl, who works in the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste, are extraordinary. The study was published in the journal in recent days Acs Nano (American Chemical Society). The computational method was used to realize it: the goal was to evaluate in advance the effects of Sars-CoV-2 variants on the human organism. Computer simulations have made it possible, as mentioned, to discover numerous variants even before their massive diffusion and the method followed by the Trieste researchers will prove useful in the future also to predict the effectiveness of vaccines and therapies.
A work that at an international level has garnered growing interest among scientists who are fighting the pandemic. «Studying the effects of variants on the human organism is of fundamental importance not only to better understand the specificity of this interaction, but above all to design new and efficient therapies – explains Sabrina Pricl, professor of chemical engineering and scientific manager of the team -. The study may have important applications in predicting the efficacy of vaccines and therapies such as monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs ».
«We have identified a total of 20 variants, on the Spike protein and on the human Ace2 protein – continues the researcher from Trieste -. Apart from the English one, the South African and the Brazilian, which are polyvariants and are much more infectious, the others are single mutations. Of these last variants that have no name, we have foreseen 8 that could prove to be potentially dangerous, but the impact on a clinical level is not yet known because although cases have been reported worldwide, they are much rarer and clinical data are insufficient. Let’s hope they don’t start making their way. “
Computer simulation techniques were used «which allowed the use of reduced resources and investments, as well as data processing considerably faster than those of experimental laboratories – remarked Pricl -. To give an idea, just think that to validate the predictions of this study carried out by only 5 researchers, two experimental works were carried out involving a total of 22 experts. Furthermore, we worked for free ».
A methodology that has made it possible to carry out research activities even in periods of severe restrictions on access to laboratories and in compliance with anti-Covid measures. It was possible to carry out a group study while remaining separate, using the connection platforms for virtual meetings and exploiting the internet to access the computing resources also through access to the super computers of the Italian Consortium for high performance computing.
«It is essential to observe that our approach, completely based on computer simulations, has revealed an agreement with the experimental data obtained from patients equal to 92%» highlights Erik Laurini, professor of molecular simulation.
“Right now – says Domenico Marson, professor of thermodynamics – we are dedicating ourselves to the prediction of the effects of the variants of the virus, including the most common English, South African and Brazilian, on different classes of antibodies aimed at the neutralization of Sars-CoV-2” . «In particular – adds the researcher -, we considered antibodies both of physiological origin, for example those found in people who have already received one of the vaccines, and of synthetic origin such as monoclonal antibodies. The latter are of great interest as a possible therapeutic approach ». –
© breaking latest news
.