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. 2021 Mar 12;371(6534):1152-1153.
doi: 10.1126/science.abg6105. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 pseudovirus by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited human sera

Alexander Muik  1 , Ann-Kathrin Wallisch  1 , Bianca Sänger  1 , Kena A Swanson  2 , Julia Mühl  1 , Wei Chen  2 , Hui Cai  2 , Daniel Maurus  1 , Ritu Sarkar  2 , Özlem Türeci  1 , Philip R Dormitzer  2 , Uğur Şahin  3   4
Affiliations

Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 pseudovirus by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited human sera

Alexander Muik et al. Science. .

Abstract

Recently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lineage called B.1.1.7 (variant of concern: VOC 202012/01), which is reported to spread more efficiently and faster than other strains, emerged in the United Kingdom. This variant has an unusually large number of mutations, with 10 amino acid changes in the spike (S) protein, raising concerns that its recognition by neutralizing antibodies may be affected. In this study, we tested SARS-CoV-2-S pseudoviruses bearing either the Wuhan reference strain or the B.1.1.7 lineage spike protein with sera of 40 participants who were vaccinated in a previously reported trial with the messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2. The immune sera had slightly reduced but overall largely preserved neutralizing titers against the B.1.1.7 lineage pseudovirus. These data indicate that the B.1.1.7 lineage will not escape BNT162b2-mediated protection.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. 50% pseudovirus neutralization titers (pVNT50) of 40 sera from BNT162b2 vaccine recipients against VSV-SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirus bearing the Wuhan reference strain or lineage B.1.1.7 spike protein.
Sera from n = 26 younger adults (aged 23 to 55 years; indicated by triangles) and n = 14 older adults (aged 57 to 73 years; indicated by circles) drawn at either day 29 or day 43 (7 or 21 days after vaccine dose two) were tested. Statistical significance of the difference between the neutralization of the VSV-SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirus bearing the Wuhan or lineage B.1.1.7 spike protein was calculated by a Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. Two-tailed P values are reported. GMTs and 95% CIs are indicated.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. pVNT50 ratio of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 to Wuhan reference strain spike–pseudotyped VSV.
Triangles represent sera from younger adults (aged 23 to 55 years), and circles represent sera from older adults (aged 57 to 73 years). Sera were drawn on either day 29 or day 43 (7 or 21 days after vaccine dose two). Geometric means of the pVNT50 ratios of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 to Wuhan spike–pseudotyped VSV and 95% CIs are indicated. The difference in distribution of titer ratios between younger and older adults was tested for statistical significance with a two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test.
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