Experts advise monitoring the new COVID-19 variants

An analysis of Yunlong Cao’s lab at the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (Biopic) of Peking University in Beijing, a team leading the investigation of Sars-CoV-2 evolution, indicates that LP.8.1 should be closely watched since she might be the next to encounter it. Currently responsible for about 10% of cases reported in the United States, scientist Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, has validated the expected variant’s rapid spread. According to Cao and colleagues’ investigation, the LP.8.1 variant’s rapid development can be explained by humoral immune evasion similar to that of XEC but with a far higher effectiveness of Ace2 involvement. Ace2 is a receptor that the virus exploits as a sort of ‘door’ to enter human cells. Several emerging sub-lines of the JN.1 family, such as LF.7.2.1, MC.10.1, NP.1, and, in particular, LP.8.1, have shown superior growth advantages over the XEC variant, as researchers report in the work made available on the ‘Biorxiv’ portal, in a version not yet peer-reviewed. The researchers conclude that these results ‘highlight the trade-off between immune evasion and efficiency of Ace2 involvement in the evolution of Sars-CoV-2 and underline the importance of monitoring LP.8.1 and its descendants.’