This is a brief vent and tangential aside about the healthcare hype surrounding naming some of the current trending and contagious COVID-19 variants, the "FLiRT" variants.
(of course, please stay safe this summer (2024) with COVID-19)
As a scientist who has seen this happen many times, I can tell you that healthcare researchers and scientists sometimes go way too far with their need to make everything catchy with acronyms.
Like, really?
Calling some of the evolutionary descendants of the COVID-19 Omicron JN.1 variant “FLiRT”s?!?!
How did FLiRT come to be?
The current variants in the FLiRT variant "family" are specifically descendants of the JN.1.11.1 variant, which is a descendant of the JN.1 variant.
The evolution of these variants is determined by the mutations of the spike protein (proteins are generally made up of amino acids). Just so you know, the spike proteins on the virus make it easy to infect human cells - which is why mutations on the spike protein cause the various variants and resurgence of COVID-19 infections.
(Please note that this is not a complete list of all the mutations. You can check out the sequencing results of the variants here: https://outbreak.info/compare-lineages
The JN.1 variant is from the BA.2.86 variant, which underwent an L to S mutation at position 455 (L455S).
No amino acids change in the spike protein since the L to S mutation at position 455 only replaces a Cytosine (RNA nucleobase) with another Cytosine. This is what is known as a silent mutation.Clarification: the wording here is confusing, and the subsequent mutation upon the L455S JN.1 mutation should be mentioned below for KP.1.1This means that L was single-substituted for S at position 455. "L to S" refers to the amino acids Leucine and Serine.
All of the JN.1 variants have the following mutations in the spike protein. Clarification: All the variants inherit the L455S mutation from the JN.1 variant:
R346T
This means that R was single-substituted for T at position 346. "R to T" refers to the amino acids Arginine to Threonine.
T572I
This means that T was single-substituted for I at position 572. "T to I" refers to the amino acids Threonine to Isoleucine.
V1104L
This means that V was single-substituted for L at position 1104. "V to L" refers to the amino acids Valine to Leucine.
F456L
This means that F was single-substituted for L at position 456. "F to L" means the amino acids Phenylalanine to Leucine.
The JN.1.11.1 variants are (as of this writing) the ones that had the V1104L mutation, and they are as follows:
KP.1.1: K1086R and R346T mutations
Lysine to Arginine at position 1086
Arginine to Threonine at position 346
KP.2: R346T and F456L mutations
Arginine to Threonine at position 346
Phenylalanine to Leucine at position 456
KP.3: F456L and Q493E mutations
Arginine to Threonine at position 346
Glutamine to Glutamic acid at position 493
These three variants are collectively called the FLiRT variants only because of the mutations present in KP.2. They rearranged the amino acid one-letter codes.
F456L and R346T --> FL and RT --> FLiRT
This bothers me (I mean, please note, many things bother me, and the name isn't really that important, but FLiRT symbolizing the word flirt makes me feel REALLY weird) because it sensationalizes and obscures the variants in an attempt to distinguish them.
It also feels like it's trivializing a disease that has wrecked and changed the lives of so many.
(Apparently, an evolutionary biologist professor (T. Ryan Gregory) coined the acronym on Twitter/X on March 13, 2024.)
(And I get it; scientists are allowed to be funny and quirky... I'm more upset about the name catching on in media and becoming a part of our evergrowing COVID-19 zeitgeist.)
--
A serious note about upcoming vaccine booster development:
Of the FLiRT variants, as of the current writing, there are surges in KP.2 and KP.3. Please see the following screenshot of the current trends in the US:
KP.2 and KP.3 both have the F456L mutation. However, the World Health Organization has selected the JN.1 strain to incorporate into the next COVID-19 booster. (They may need to pick one of the descendants of the JN1.1.11.1 variant instead! Or somehow incorporate multiple viral strains!)
COVID-19 boosters are ESSENTIAL to curb antibody resistance and the dropping serum antibody levels in the population.
(Side note: I know that some people are now calling the variants "FLip"s to emphasize the F456L mutation, but FLiRT will likely stay in the media's vocabulary for a while.)