RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Striking Antibody Evasion Manifested by the Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV-2
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.12.14.472719
DO 10.1101/2021.12.14.472719
A1 Lihong Liu
A1 Sho Iketani
A1 Yicheng Guo
A1 Jasper F-W. Chan
A1 Maple Wang
A1 Liyuan Liu
A1 Yang Luo
A1 Hin Chu
A1 Yiming Huang
A1 Manoj S. Nair
A1 Jian Yu
A1 Kenn K-H. Chik
A1 Terrence T-T. Yuen
A1 Chaemin Yoon
A1 Kelvin K-W. To
A1 Honglin Chen
A1 Michael T. Yin
A1 Magdalena E. Sobieszczyk
A1 Yaoxing Huang
A1 Harris H. Wang
A1 Zizhang Sheng
A1 Kwok-Yung Yuen
A1 David D. Ho
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/17/2021.12.14.472719.abstract
AB The Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV-2 was only recently detected in southern Africa, but its subsequent spread has been extensive, both regionally and globally1. It is expected to become dominant in the coming weeks2, probably due to enhanced transmissibility. A striking feature of this variant is the large number of spike mutations3 that pose a threat to the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapies4. This concern is amplified by the findings from our study. We found B.1.1.529 to be markedly resistant to neutralization by serum not only from convalescent patients, but also from individuals vaccinated with one of the four widely used COVID-19 vaccines. Even serum from persons vaccinated and boosted with mRNA-based vaccines exhibited substantially diminished neutralizing activity against B.1.1.529. By evaluating a panel of monoclonal antibodies to all known epitope clusters on the spike protein, we noted that the activity of 18 of the 19 antibodies tested were either abolished or impaired, including ones currently authorized or approved for use in patients. In addition, we also identified four new spike mutations (S371L, N440K, G446S, and Q493R) that confer greater antibody resistance to B.1.1.529. The Omicron variant presents a serious threat to many existing COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, compelling the development of new interventions that anticipate the evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2.Competing Interest StatementL.L., S.I., M.S.N., J.Y., Y.H., and D.D.H. are inventors on patent applications on some of the antibodies described in this manuscript.