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Tag: variants
January 29, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 is susceptible to neutralizing antibodies elicited by ancestral Spike vaccines
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Using a lentivirus-based pseudovirus assay, the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant was shown to exhibit only modestly reduced susceptibility to neutralization from convalescent sera (1.5-fold average reduction) and sera from recipients of both the Moderna and Novavax vaccine phase 1 studies (2-fold average reduction after two inoculations. The authors used the prototypic D614G…
A Rapid and Low-Cost protocol for the detection of B.1.1.7 lineage of SARS-CoV-2 by using SYBR Green-Based RT-qPCR
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Abdel-Sater et al. reported the development of a rapid molecular test to identify the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant using a set of RT-PCR primers that were designed to confirm the deletion mutations Δ69/Δ70 in the spike and the Δ106/Δ107/Δ108 in the NSP6 gene. The large-scale screening method may help bypass the need…
January 28, 2021
Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine Demonstrates 89.3% Efficacy in UK Phase 3 Trial
[Press release, not peer-reviewed] Preliminary results for phase 2/3 trials for the recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373 made by Novavax showed up to 89.3% efficacy in the UK cohort (n= >15,000), where 56 participants in the placebo group developed COVID-19 vs 6 in the vaccine group. Of note, the B.1.1.7 variant was observed in 32…
Neutralization of Spike 6970 Deletion E484K and N501Y SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 Vaccine-Elicited Sera
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Sera from recipients who completed the 2-dose regimen of the Pfizer vaccine BNT162b2 (n=20) had similar neutralizing geometric mean titers (GMTs) against SARS-CoV-2 viruses engineered to contain key spike protein mutations from variants emerging from the UK (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351) compared to GMTs against the wild-type virus. Compared to the…
Quantifying the Transmission Advantage Associated with N501Y Substitution of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom: An Early Data-Driven Analysis
Using publicly available SARS-CoV-2 sequencing data and COVID-19 surveillance data collected from August to December 2020 in the UK, Zhao et al. reconstructed the variant-specific instantaneous reproduction number, Rt, and estimated that the variant containing the N501Y mutation is 52% more transmissible than the wild-type virus. Zhao et al. (Jan 28, 2021). Quantifying the Transmission…
January 27, 2021
Increased Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Variants B.1.351 and B.1.1.7 to Antibody Neutralization
[Pre-print, not per-reviewed] The SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 (UK) was resistant to neutralization by several monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting either the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the virus’s spike protein or its receptor-binding domain (RBD). This variant was also modestly more resistant to neutralization with convalescent plasma (about 3 fold) and sera from people who had received…
January 25, 2021
Increased Infections, but Not Viral Burden, with a New SARS-CoV-2 Variant
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A large community surveillance study in the UK found evidence for increases in S-gene target failures (SGTF) of SARS-CoV-2, consistent with expansion of the B.1.1.7 variant, at a time in mid-November when non-SGTF strains were stable or declining. Data were analyzed from nose and throat swabs (n=1,553,687) collected from September 28, 2020…
Abrupt Increase in the UK Coronavirus Death-Case Ratio in December 2020
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study evaluating the statistical relationship between COVID-19 infections and reported deaths in the UK identified an increase in the case fatality ratio in December 2020. While deaths were well described as 1/55th of cases detected 12 days prior during the months of October and November, by early December the case fatality…
MRNA-1273 Vaccine Induces Neutralizing Antibodies against Spike Mutants from Global SARS-CoV-2 Variants
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Sera from human subjects or non-human primates (NHPs) that received the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine showed no significant reduction in neutralization activity against the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant emerging from the UK, but reduced activity against the B.1.351 variant emerging from South Africa. The study used two pseudovirus neutralization assays expressing spike proteins of…
NERVTAG Note on B.1.1.7 Severity
[Report, not peer-reviewed] The UK New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Advisory Group (NERVTAG) states the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant has quickly become dominant in the UK, and that there is a possibility that infection with this variant is associated with increased risk of death compared to previous strains. NERVTAG cites evidence of increased case fatality from…
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