Serosurvey in BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies against authentic B.1, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.525 and P.1 SARS-CoV-2 variants

Abstract

In this study, we show that BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited antibodies efficiently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 authentic viruses belonging to B.1, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.525 and P.1 lineages. Interestingly, the neutralization of B.1.1.7 and B.1.525 lineages was significantly higher, whereas the neutralization of B.1.351 and P.1 lineages was robust but significantly lower as compared to B.1 lineage. Following our findings, we consider that the BNT162b2 vaccine offers protection against the current prevailing variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: BNT162b2 vaccine; SARS-CoV-2; neutralizing antibodies; variant of concern; variant of interest.

Figure 1.

Serum neutralization of authentic SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and its viral variants. (A) SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage. (B) SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 lineage. (C) SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and SARS-CoV-2 B.1.525 lineage. (D) SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and SARS-CoV-2 P.1 lineage. Shown are the results of neutralization test with the use of 37 samples obtained from 37 volunteers between 10 and 20 days after the administration of the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine (which occurred three weeks after the first immunization). Neutralization of authentic viruses was performed by cytopathic effect (CPE)-based assay using a viral titre of 10² TCID₅₀. The neutralization titre of the serum sample was calculated as the reciprocal of the highest dilution that protected more than 50% of cells from CPE. Sera with different neutralization titre against SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and viral variants are connected by lines. Horizontal lines and the numbers over the bars indicate geometric mean titres (GM). The I bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. Statistical analysis was performed using the paired t-test and two-tailed P values were calculated. The statistical significance of the difference between neutralization titres in the SARS-CoV-2 B.1 lineage and in each variant virus neutralization assay with the same serum samples are as follows: P < .0001 for SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage; P < .0001 for SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 lineage; and P < .0001 for SARS-CoV-2 B.1.525 lineage; and P = .0002 for SARS-CoV-2 P.1 lineage.