Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 P.1 variant shows resistance to antibody neutralization
Researchers in the United States say the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant – P.1 – that has recently emerged in Brazil shows a worrying level of resistance to neutralization by antibodies.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that poses an ongoing threat to mankind and has now claimed the lives of more than 2.56 million people globally.
The team from Columbia University in New York found that as well as being resistant to several neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), the P.1 variant is also over six times more resistant to neutralization by convalescent plasma and more than twice as resistant to sera from vaccinees than the wildtype virus.