What mutations make the monkeypox virus?

Antonio Alcamí

Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CBMSO-CSIC), Madrid, Spain

Monkeypox (mpox) is a disease caused by a zoonotic virus closely related to the smallpox virus that originally infected only animals. However, at some point it jumped from a rodent reservoir to humans and over time has become increasingly transmissible. In July 2022, the World Health Organisation activated an international health emergency for this disease, which until then had been confined to Africa. Although it deactivated the emergency in spring 2023, new cases and deaths continue to occur.

Genetic analyses of the variants of the virus now circulating have revealed recent mutations that appear to be responsible for the increased efficiency of transmission among humans of the virus. Some of the mutated genes are engaged in evading the host immune response by blocking molecules that control the activity of key immune cells.

Researchers in this project aim to characterise these mutations to better understand their biological function, using mouse models of infection. They will also compare the current virus in the laboratory with previously circulating variants of the mpox virus to see if these new mutations acquired by the virus are the ones that make it better adapted to evade the human immune system.

Monkeypox virus cytokine decoy receptors: adaptation to human immune evasion and transmission

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