March 25, 2021

B.1.526 SARS-CoV-2 Variants Identified in New York City Are Neutralized by Vaccine-Elicited and Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): treatment, vaccine, variants

• [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Neutralizing activity elicited by prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), or the Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail (REGN10933 and REGN10987) were similar against the B.1.526 variant with the S477N mutation compared to the widely circulating strain with the D614G mutation. In contrast, similar to other E484K harboring variants, the B.1.526 variant with the E484K mutation reduced neutralizing titers of sera from convalescent and vaccinated individuals by nearly 4-fold. REGN10933 alone had a 12-fold reduction in neutralizing activity, but the combined Regeneron cocktail was able to neutralize the B.1.526 E484K variant. Both versions of the B.1.526 variant (S477N mutation and E484K mutation) were first identified in New York City in November 2020, and rapidly spread to account for 12% of detected genomes by mid-February 2021.

Zhou et al. (Mar 24, 2021). B.1.526 SARS-CoV-2 Variants Identified in New York City Are Neutralized by Vaccine-Elicited and Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies. Pre-print downloaded Mar 25 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.24.436620