An engineered ACE2 decoy neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and confers protection against infection in vivo.

ABSTRACT: The Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS-CoV-2 variant contains an unusually high number of mutations in the spike protein, raising concerns of escape from vaccines, convalescent serum, and therapeutic drugs. Here, we analyzed the degree to which Omicron pseudo-virus evades neutralization by serum or therapeutic antibodies. Serum samples obtained 3 months after two doses of BNT162b2 vaccination exhibited 18-fold lower neutralization titers against Omicron than parental virus. Convalescent serum samples from individuals infected with the Alpha and Delta variants allowed similar frequencies of Omicron breakthrough infections. Domain-wise analysis using chimeric spike proteins revealed that this efficient evasion was primarily achieved by mutations clustered in the receptor binding domain but that multip

SUBMITTER: Ikemura N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9097879 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature