Correlates of Neutralization against SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern by Early Pandemic Sera.
J Virol
; 95(14): e0040421, 2021 06 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1501539
ABSTRACT
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern that overcome natural and vaccine-induced immunity threaten to exacerbate the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing evidence suggests that neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses are a primary mechanism of protection against infection. However, little is known about the extent and mechanisms by which natural immunity acquired during the early COVID-19 pandemic confers cross-neutralization of emerging variants. In this study, we investigated cross-neutralization of the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 SARS-CoV-2 variants in a well-characterized cohort of early pandemic convalescent subjects. We observed modestly decreased cross-neutralization of B.1.1.7 but a substantial 4.8-fold reduction in cross-neutralization of B.1.351. Correlates of cross-neutralization included receptor binding domain (RBD) and N-terminal domain (NTD) binding antibodies, homologous NAb titers, and membrane-directed T cell responses. These data shed light on the cross-neutralization of emerging variants by early pandemic convalescent immune responses. IMPORTANCE Widespread immunity to SARS-CoV-2 will be necessary to end the COVID-19 pandemic. NAb responses are a critical component of immunity that can be stimulated by natural infection as well as vaccines. However, SARS-CoV-2 variants are emerging that contain mutations in the spike gene that promote evasion from NAb responses. These variants may therefore delay control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied whether NAb responses from early COVID-19 convalescent patients are effective against the two SARS-CoV-2 variants, B.1.1.7 and B.1.351. We observed that the B.1.351 variant demonstrates significantly reduced susceptibility to early pandemic NAb responses. We additionally characterized virological, immunological, and clinical features that correlate with cross-neutralization. These studies increase our understanding of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antibodies, Neutralizing
/
Pandemics
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Antibodies, Viral
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
/
Variants
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
J Virol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jvi.00404-21
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS