In this article the authors study the ability of monoclonal antibodies, convalescent and vaccine sera to neutralize B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 and complement this with structural analyses of Fab/RBD complexes and map the antigenic space of current variants. Neutralization of both viruses is reduced when compared with ancestral Wuhan related strains but there is no evidence of widespread antibody escape as seen with B.1.351. However, B.1.351 and P.1 sera showed markedly more reduction in neutralization of B.1.617.2 suggesting that individuals previously infected by these variants may be more susceptible to reinfection by B.1.617.2. This observation provides important new insight for immunisation policy with future variant vaccines in non-immune populations.
Liu, C., Ginn, H.M., Dejnirattisai, W., Supasa, P., Wang, B., Tuekprakhon, A.,Nutalai, R., Zhou, D., Mentzer, A.J., Zhao, Y., Duyvesteyn, H.M.E., López-Camacho, C., Slon-Campos,J., Walter, T.S., Skelly, D., Johnson, S.A., Ritter, T.G., Mason, C., Costa Clemens, S.A., Naveca, F.G.,Nascimento, V., Nascimento, F., Fernandes da Costa, C., Resende, P.C., Pauvolid-Correa, A., Siqueira,M.M., Dold, C., Temperton, N., Dong, T., Pollard, A.J., Knight, J.C., Crook, D., Lambe, T., Clutterbuck,E., Bibi, S., Flaxman, A., Bittaye, M., Belij-Rammerstorfer, S., Gilbert, S.C., Malik, T., Carroll, M.W.,Klenerman, P., Barnes, E., Dunachie, S.J., Baillie, V., Serafin, N., Ditse, Z., Da Silva, K., Paterson,N.G., Williams, M.A., Hall, D.R., Madhi, S., Nunes, M.C, Goulder, P., Fry, E.E., Mongkolsapaya, J.,Ren, J., Stuart, D.I., Screaton, G.R., Reduced neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 by vaccine andconvalescent serum, Cell (2021), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.020