2024/12/20 by James Brett Case, Shilpi Jain, Mehul S. Suthar +1 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies #SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research #vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-immunol-083122-043054
openalex publication_date 2024/12/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infections at a global level reflects the repeated emergence of variant strains encoding unique constellations of mutations. These variants have been generated principally because of a dynamic host immune landscape, the countermeasures deployed to combat disease, and selection for enhanced infection of the upper airway and respiratory transmission. The resulting viral diversity creates a challenge for vaccination efforts to maintain efficacy, especially regarding humoral aspects of protection. Here, we review our understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 has evolved during the pandemic, the immune mechanisms that confer protection, and the impact viral evolution has had on transmissibility and adaptive immunity elicited by natural infection and/or vaccination. Evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 evolution initially selected variants with increased transmissibility but currently is driven by immune escape. The virus likely will continue to drift to maintain fitness until countermeasures capable of disrupting transmission cycles become widely available.