2024-01-13 05:31:00
the essential The JN.1 variant is now the majority in France. According to a study published at the beginning of the year, the sub-variant, which is spreading around the world, has an increased capacity to insert itself into certain cells in our lungs. Something to worry some scientists.
It is now a “number” which is very well anchored in the French health landscape. The JN.1 sub-variant of Covid-19 – which descends from the large line of variants belonging to the Omicron family – is now clearly in the majority in France. This new strain now represents more than 70% of virus contaminations in the country, according to the latest data from Public Health France.
This strain – which was detected for the first time in France last summer – is now worrying a number of scientists. This is responsible for the epidemiological surge which was observed in a number of European countries at the end of 2023: the sub-variant was, in recent weeks, responsible for the largest epidemic outbreak since the appearance of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021 / beginning of 2022. According to many scientists, the contagiousness of JN.1 makes it one of the most dangerous strains since the appearance of the Delta variant in 2020.
Increased ease of infecting our cells
Why is JN.1 of such particular scientific interest for researchers? Firstly because of its mutations. This sub-variant, which is a direct descendant of the BA.2.86 variant, presents a very large number (more than 30): “It’s enormous,” Professor Bruno Lina commented in our columns at the end of the summer. The only time we saw this was when we discovered the Omicron variant. At the time, scientists had only spotted 18″. It is these mutations that shape the characteristics of a variant: aggressiveness, transmissibility, etc. “Due to new mutations, it is possible that it is less well recognized by our immune system,” comments Professor Vincent Enouf. , deputy director of the National Reference Center (CNR) for respiratory infection viruses at the Pasteur Institute, with our colleagues at Figaro.
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Since its discovery a few months ago, JN.1 has demonstrated an increased capacity to infect cells located in the lower part of our lungs, called “CaLu-3”. A study recently published in the revue Cell by scientists at Ohio State University say that BA.2.86 and its subvariant JN.1 are able to enter these lung cells more easily than any variant that has appeared since 2020. While JN.1 does not appear to cause cases of serious infections, Shan-Lu Liu, one of the main authors of the study, calls for caution: it is the capacity of a variant to infect our lung cells that makes it dangerous.
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“The question now is whether BA.2.86, as well as its descendants, including JN.1, will have an increased tendency to infect human lung epithelial cells (a protective protein tissue that lines our respiratory system to protect it, editor’s note ), like the parental virus that triggered the pandemic in 2020, worries Shan-Lu Liu in a press release. We know that coronaviruses are prone to viral recombination, which can lead to new variants with a large number of mutations that could increase immune evasion but also the severity of the disease. In January 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that the JN.1 variant constituted around 62% of Covid-19 cases globally: a notable increase compared to previous weeks.
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