COVID-19 pandemic remains an on-going global health and economic threat that has amassed millions of deaths. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological agent of this disease and is constantly under evolutionary pressures that drive the modification of its genome which may represent a threat to the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines available. This article highlights the pressures that facilitate the rise of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and the key mutations of the viral spike protein – L452R, E484K, N501Y and D614G– that promote immune escape mechanism and warrant a cautionary point for clinical and public health responses in terms of re-infection, vaccine breakthrough infection and therapeutic values.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Vaccine, variants, Spike protein, immune evasion, Secondary infection, Breakthrough infection, 【초록키워드】 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Efficacy, coronavirus, COVID-19 vaccine, Mutation, COVID-19 pandemic, Genome, variant, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, Spike protein, Health, Viral, Immune escape, SARS-CoV-2 variants, L452R, N501Y, therapeutic, Re-infection, Public health response, D614G, E484K, respiratory, disease, mechanism, deaths, viral spike protein, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, etiological agent, Modification, highlight, new SARS-CoV-2, facilitate, promote, 【제목키워드】 spike, escape, secondary,