Monkeypox mutations cause virus to spread rapidly, evade drugs and vaccines, study finds: Researchers show how monkeypox mutations cause virus to replicate, spread faster

Monkeypox has infected more than 77,000 people in more than 100 countries worldwide, and — similar to COVID-19 — mutations have enabled the virus to grow stronger and smarter, evading antiviral drugs and vaccines in its mission to infect more people.

Now, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri have identified the specific mutations in the monkeypox virus that contribute to its continued infectiousness. The findings could lead to several outcomes: modified versions of existing drugs used to treat people suffering from monkeypox or the development of new drugs that account for the current mutations to increase their effectiveness at reducing symptoms and the spread of the virus.

Kamlendra Singh, a professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine and Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigator, collaborated with Shrikesh Sachdev, Shree Lekha Kandasamy and Hickman High School student Saathvik Kannan, to analyze the DNA sequences of more 200 strains of monkeypox virus spanning multiple decades, from 1965, when the virus first started spreading, to outbreaks in the early 2000s and again in 2022.

“By doing a temporal analysis, we were able to see how the virus has evolved over time, and a key finding was the virus is now accumulating mutations specifically where drugs and antibodies from vaccines are supposed to bind,” Sachdev said. “So, the virus is getting smarter, it is able to avoid being targeted by drugs or antibodies from our body’s immune response and continue to spread to more people.”

Needles in a haystack

Singh has been studying virology and DNA genome replication for nearly 30 years. He said the homology, or structure, of the monkeypox virus is very similar to the vaccinia virus, which has been used as a vaccine to treat smallpox. This enabled Singh and his collaborators to create an accurate, 3D computer model of the monkeypox virus proteins and identify both where the specific mutations are located and what their functions are in contributing to the virus becoming so infectious recently.

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