Variants emerging during COVID-19 pandemic resist antibody neutralization
Researchers in the United States have warned that recently emerged variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – have become worryingly resistant to monoclonal antibody therapies, plasma from convalescent patients and sera from vaccinated individuals.
The team says that both the B.1.1.7 variant that has emerged in the UK and the B.1.351 variant that has emerged in South Africa have become resistant to neutralization by many of the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that target a surface protein on SARS-CoV-2 called the spike (or S) protein.
This spike protein is the primary structure the virus uses to bind to and infect host cells.