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How a rampant coronavirus variant blunts our immune defences

The rapid spread of the B.1.1.7 variant — also called Alpha — might be linked to its ability to dampen the body’s initial immune response.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty

    1. Smriti Mallapaty is a senior reporter in Sydney, Australia.

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A fast-spreading coronavirus variant blunts the body’s first line of defence, which could explain why it is more transmissible than previously circulating variants, according to a study of SARS-CoV-2 infection of cells.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01540-8

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 16 June 2021: An earlier version of this article misspelt Silvana Gaudieri’s surname. This has now been corrected. The story has also been amended to make clear that Gaudieri is not the lead author of a paper, but one of multiple authors.

References

  1. Thorne, L. G. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.06.446826 (2021).

  2. Parker, M. D. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.02.433156 (2021).

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