Abstract
Background: Emergence of vaccine-escaping SARS-CoV-2 variants is a serious problem for global public health. The currently rampant Omicron has been shown to possess remarkable vaccine escape; however, the selection pressure exerted by vaccines might pave the way for other escape mutants in the near future. Materials & methods: For detection of neutralizing antibodies, the authors used the recently developed HiBiT-based virus-like particle neutralization test system. Sera after vaccination (two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine) were used to evaluate the neutralizing activity against various strains of SARS-CoV-2. Results: Beta+R346K, which was identified in the Philippines in August 2021, exhibited the highest vaccine resistance among the tested mutants. Surprisingly, Mu+K417N mutant exhibited almost no decrease in neutralization. Imdevimab retained efficacy against these strains. Conclusions: Mutations outside the receptor-binding domain contributed to vaccine escape. Both genomic surveillance and phenotypic analysis synergistically accelerate identifications of vaccine-escaping strains.
Keywords: Beta variant; COVID-19; Mu variant; SARS-CoV-2; immune escape; vaccine effectiveness.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Immune escape, Beta variant, vaccine effectiveness, Mu variant, 【초록키워드】 Efficacy, Vaccine, vaccination, Neutralizing antibodies, mRNA vaccine, neutralization, SARS-CoV-2 variant, omicron, immune, Neutralizing activity, Receptor-binding domain, Surveillance, Immune escape, Imdevimab, escape mutant, emergence, sera, neutralization test, Effectiveness, selection pressure, mutants, Beta, mutant, Beta variant, genomic, Strains, Pfizer/BioNTech, dose, strain, global public health, material, Phenotypic analysis, no decrease, highest, shown, tested, evaluate, exhibited, were used, the receptor-binding domain, contributed, retained, accelerate, 【제목키워드】 Humoral immunity,