RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 pseudovirus by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited human sera
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.01.18.426984
DO 10.1101/2021.01.18.426984
A1 Muik, Alexander
A1 Wallisch, Ann-Kathrin
A1 Sänger, Bianca
A1 Swanson, Kena A.
A1 Mühl, Julia
A1 Chen, Wei
A1 Cai, Hui
A1 Sarkar, Ritu
A1 Türeci, Özlem
A1 Dormitzer, Philip R.
A1 Sahin, Ugur
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/01/19/2021.01.18.426984.abstract
AB Recently, a new SARS-CoV-2 lineage called B.1.1.7 has emerged in the United Kingdom that was reported to spread more efficiently than other strains. This variant has an unusually large number of mutations with 10 amino acid changes in the spike protein, raising concerns that its recognition by neutralizing antibodies may be affected. Here, we investigated SARS-CoV-2-S pseudoviruses bearing either the Wuhan reference strain or the B.1.1.7 lineage spike protein with sera of 16 participants in a previously reported trial with the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2. The immune sera had equivalent neutralizing titers to both variants. These data, together with the combined immunity involving humoral and cellular effectors induced by this vaccine, make it unlikely that the B.1.1.7 lineage will escape BNT162b2-mediated protection.Competing Interest StatementU.S. and O.T. are management board members and employees at BioNTech SE. A.M., A.W., J.M. and B.S. are employees at BioNTech SE. U.S., O.T. and A.M. are inventors on patents and patent applications related to RNA technology and COVID-19 vaccine. U.S., O.T., A.M., J.M. and B.S. have securities from BioNTech SE; K.A.S., W.C., H.C., R.S. and P.R.D. are employees at Pfizer and may have securities from Pfizer.