Pathology

Disease

Spike (software development)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Monoclonal antibody

Biology

Gene

Outbreak

Neutralization

Management

Antibody

Virology

Economics

Lineage (genetic)

Coronavirus

Spike Protein

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Recombinant DNA

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Convalescent plasma

Genetics

Medicine

Nature Medicine

SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 (B.1.351), a novel lineage of coronavirus causing COVID-19, contains substitutions in two immunodominant domains of the spike protein. Here, we show that pseudovirus expressing 501Y.V2 spike protein completely escapes three classes of therapeutically relevant antibodies. This pseudovirus also exhibits substantial to complete escape from neutralization, but not binding, by convalescent plasma. These data highlight the prospect of reinfection with antigenically distinct variants and foreshadows reduced efficacy of spike-based vaccines. Substitutions in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein present in the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa, when expressed in pseudoviruses, mediate escape from neutralization by monoclonal antibodies under clinical development and by plasma from individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, but do not prevent binding of convalescent plasma to recombinant spike protein containing B.1.351 lineage substitutions.

SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 escapes neutralization by South African COVID-19 donor plasma