March 19, 2021

SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 variants lack higher infectivity but do have immune escape

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): immunity, variant

• The infectivity of the 501Y.V2 variants (which include the B.1.351 variant that was first identified in South Africa) was not significantly different than the reference strain (D614G) across multiple cell types. The neutralizing activity of multiple RBD-targeting monoclonal antibodies decreased significantly, and polyclonal antibodies (from RBD-immunized mouse sera and from SARS-CoV-2 convalescent sera) also had decreased neutralizing activity against 501Y.V2 variants.

Li, Q et al. SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 variants lack higher infectivity but do have immune escape. Cell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.042