Mlcochova, P., Kemp, S.A., Dhar, M.S. et al. (258 more authors) (2021) SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant replication and immune evasion. Nature, 599. pp. 114-119. ISSN 0028-0836
Abstract
The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha)1. In vitro, B.1.617.2 is sixfold less sensitive to serum neutralizing antibodies from recovered individuals, and eightfold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies, compared with wild-type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralizing titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx1 vaccinees than in BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies to the receptor-binding domain and the amino-terminal domain. B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency than B.1.1.7 in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems, associated with B.1.617.2 spike being in a predominantly cleaved state compared with B.1.1.7 spike. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralizing antibody, compared with that of wild-type spike. We also observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike-mediated entry than B.1.617.1, potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of more than 130 SARS-CoV-2-infected health care workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune-evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | This paper has 261 authors. You can scroll the list below to see them all or them all.
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021, The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG); Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium; CITIID-NIHR BioResource COVID-19 Collaboration; Cell Line; Humans; Vaccination; Cell Fusion; Virus Replication; Kinetics; Health Personnel; India; Female; Male; Immune Evasion; Antibodies, Neutralizing; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 Vaccines |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Apr 2024 14:12 |
Last Modified: | 17 Apr 2024 14:12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Research |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:211574 |