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. 2021 Sep:142:104912.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2021.104912. Epub 2021 Jul 16.

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 reduces neutralisation activity of antibodies against wild-type SARS-CoV-2

Katharina Müller  1 , Philipp Girl  2 , Andreas Giebl  3 , Heiner von Buttlar  1 , Gerhard Dobler  1 , Joachim J Bugert  1 , Stefanie Gruetzner  3 , Roman Wölfel  1
Affiliations

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 reduces neutralisation activity of antibodies against wild-type SARS-CoV-2

Katharina Müller et al. J Clin Virol. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Spike-specific antibodies contribute significantly to the neutralising activity against SARS-CoV-2 and are important for the therapeutic effect of convalescent plasma. B.1.1.7 is a recently emerged variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has several mutations in the gene encoding for the spike-protein. To assess the potential effect these mutations could have on the neutralising efficacy of antibodies, we evaluated 96 serum samples from convalescent plasma donors collected before the first occurrence of B.1.1.7 and tested their neutralising effect on wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and B.1.1.7. We found that B.1.1.7 is more resistant to neutralisation by convalescent plasma from patients infected with wild-type SARS-CoV-2 with an overall decrease in neutralising activity of 47.7%. Thus, the neutralising effect of convalescent plasma should be determined against the major circulating virus clades whenever possible to ensure the best possible therapeutic effect.

Keywords: B.1.1.7.; Convalescent plasma; Covid-19; Neutralisation; Sars-cov-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Direct comparison of NAbs titres against WT virus (orange) and B.1.1.7 (blue) shows a general trend towards a decrease in titre levels. While the majority of serum samples were still able to neutralise B.1.1.7, most samples show a decrease in NAbs titre levels. The greatest decrease was observed in one sample, which dropped from an initial titre of 80 against WT virus to no neutralising effect against B.1.1.7 (Fig. 1, red). 16 serum samples lost their neutralising effect completely against B.1.1.7. Only one sample showed a slight increase in neutralising efficacy when tested against B.1.1.7 (green). In total, 96 samples were tested. The number of samples with the same titre is shown in the respective circle.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage differences in NAbs titres demonstrate an overall decrease in neutralising efficacy While the majority of samples showed a decrease in titre values, neutralising efficacy was completely abolished in 16 samples. Four samples retained their neutralising efficacy. Additionally, all 20 samples that were initially negative for NAbs against WT virus also remained negative when tested against B.1.1.7 (grey).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A low-grade correlation was observed between the titres against WT virus and B.1.1.7. Despite the low degree correlation observed (r = 0.86, Pearson regression analysis), no prediction about the neutralising efficacy of a serum against B.1.1.7 can be extrapolated from the NAbs titre obtained against WT virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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