PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Daniel J. Sheward
AU  - Changil Kim
AU  - Julian Fischbach
AU  - Sandra Muschiol
AU  - Roy A. Ehling
AU  - Niklas K. Björkström
AU  - Gunilla B. Karlsson Hedestam
AU  - Sai T. Reddy
AU  - Jan Albert
AU  - Thomas P. Peacock
AU  - Ben Murrell
TI  - Omicron sublineage BA.2.75.2 exhibits extensive escape from neutralising antibodies
AID  - 10.1101/2022.09.16.508299
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.09.16.508299
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/19/2022.09.16.508299.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/19/2022.09.16.508299.full
AB  - Several sublineages of omicron have emerged with additional mutations that may afford further antibody evasion. Here, we characterise the sensitivity of emerging omicron sublineages BA.2.75.2, BA.4.6, and BA.2.10.4 to antibody-mediated neutralisation, and identify extensive escape by BA.2.75.2. BA.2.75.2 was resistant to neutralisation by Evusheld (tixagevimab + cilgavimab), but remained sensitive to bebtelovimab. In recent serum samples from blood donors in Stockholm, Sweden, BA.2.75.2 was neutralised, on average, at titers approximately 6.5-times lower than BA.5, making BA.2.75.2 the most neutralisation resistant variant evaluated to date. These data raise concerns that BA.2.75.2 may effectively evade humoral immunity in the population.Competing Interest StatementSTR is a cofounder of and held shares in deepCDR Biologics, which has been acquired by Alloy Therapeutics. DJS, GBKH, and BM have intellectual property rights associated with antibodies that neutralise omicron variants. All other authors declare no competing interests.