Antigenic escape
Antigenic escape, immune escape, immune evasion or escape mutation occurs when the immune system of a host, especially of a human being, is unable to respond to an infectious agent: the host's immune system is no longer able to recognize and eliminate a pathogen, such as a virus. This process can occur in a number of different ways of both a genetic and an environmental nature.[1] Such mechanisms include homologous recombination, and manipulation and resistance of the host's immune responses.[2]
Different
Antigenic escape is not only crucial for the host's natural immune response, but also for the resistance against
Mechanisms of evasion
Helicobacter pylori and homologous recombination
The most common of antigenic escape mechanisms,
African trypanosomes
African
Trypanosomes are also able to achieve evasion through the mediation of the host's immune response. Through the conversion of
Plant RNA viruses
Lafforgue et al 2011 found escape mutants in
Tumor escape
Many
Escape from vaccination
Consequences of recent vaccines
While vaccines are created to strengthen the immune response to pathogens, in many cases these vaccines are not able to cover the wide variety of strains a pathogen may have. Instead they may only protect against one or two strains, leading to the escape of strains not covered by the vaccine.[5] This results in the pathogens being able to attack targets of the immune system different than those intended to be targeted by the vaccination.[4] This parasitic antigen diversity is particularly troublesome for the development of the malaria vaccines.[5]
Solutions to escape of vaccination
In order to fix this problem, vaccines must be able to cover the wide variety of strains within a bacterial population. In recent research of Neisseria meningitidis, the possibility of such broad coverage may be achieved through the combination of multi-component polysaccharide conjugate vaccines. However, in order to further improve upon broadening the scope of vaccinations, epidemiological surveillance must be conducted to better detect the variation of escape mutants and their spread.[4]
See also
References
- ^ PMID 26690220.
- ^ PMID 25130723.
- ^ S2CID 9365261.
- ^ PMID 25966310.
- ^ PMID 25120545.
- ^ Zimmer, Carl (12 May 2021). "Scientists warn U.S. lawmakers about the continued threat of coronavirus variants". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- PMID 21775453.
- S2CID 28445949.
- S2CID 51978497.
- S2CID 43840370.
- PMID 27433843.
- PMID 30135176.
- PMID 33334730.
- S2CID 222159001.