Preliminary findings on Wednesday add to the evidence that a coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa escapes the neutralizing power of antibodies in convalescent plasma.
The findings were published before the peer review on the bioRxiv website by several universities in South Africa and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service.
The 501Y.V2 variant involves nine mutations in the virus’s spike protein, which the virus uses to infect cells. This worries scientists because recently developed vaccines and therapies target proteins, raising concerns that changes could impact the effectiveness of treatments and vaccines. Scientists believe that recently approved vaccines remain effective against the UK variant, although research on the variant first identified in South Africa may be underway.
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Earlier this week, researchers said the South African strain was 50% more infectious and has been detected in more than 20 countries since late December, the World Health Organization said, Reuters reported. No cases of the strain have been reported in the USA, although this is potentially due to surveillance.
Convalescent plasma with antibodies from recovered coronavirus patients is infused into sick patients to fight infection, and the treatment is already authorized in the US. While it can be beneficial for those fighting the virus, the evidence is not conclusive about how it works or how to best manage it.
In preliminary findings published on Wednesday, the researchers said the mutated strain almost avoided, if not avoided, the protection offered by the plasma treatment.
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“This strain exhibits a complete escape of three classes of therapeutically relevant monoclonal antibodies,” the results say. “In addition, 501Y.V2 shows a substantial or complete leakage of neutralizing antibodies in convalescent COVID-19 plasma.”
The researchers said the data emphasized the risk of reinfection, “and may foreshadow the reduced effectiveness of current peak-based vaccines”. The team tested convalescent plasma from patients with coronavirus against the 501Y.V2 strain, and 48% of the 44 samples “had no detectable neutralization activity,” wrote the study authors.
“These data also have implications for the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which are based primarily on immune responses to the protein spike,” says the article, urgently calling for “rapidly adaptable vaccine design platforms and the need for identify fewer mutable viral targets for incorporation into future immunogens. “
Separate research released on Tuesday also suggested that mRNA vaccines (such as those developed by Pfizer and Moderna) may require updates to maintain effectiveness against new strains.
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Pfizer previously told Fox News that the company, along with BioNTech, selected an mRNA platform for its now authorized vaccine due to the flexibility provided by the technology. “This flexibility includes the ability to change the sequence of RNA in the vaccine to cover new strains of the virus, should one arise that is not well covered by the current vaccine,” says a statement sent by email.
In the findings published on Tuesday, a team including scientists at Rockefeller University collected blood samples from 20 volunteers who received vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna and tested their antibodies against various virus mutations in the laboratory.
With some, the antibodies did not work as well against the virus – the activity was one to three times less, depending on the mutation, said study leader Dr. Michel Nussenzweig de Rockefeller.
“It is a small difference, but it is definitely a difference,” he said. The antibody response “is not so good” in blocking the virus.
“We don’t want people to think that the current vaccine is already out of date. This is absolutely not true,” E. John Wherry, an immunology expert at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press. “There is still immunity here … a good level of protection,” but the mutations “actually reduce how well our immune response is recognizing the virus.”
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Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech have published a new study that provides further evidence that their vaccine COVID-19 is effective against the UK variant that is believed to be more contagious.
The study, which was published on the prepress server bioRxiv and has not yet undergone peer review, analyzed blood samples from eight people aged 18 to 55 and eight people aged 56 to 85 years.
The researchers found that the Pfizer vaccine did not provide “any biologically significant difference in neutralization activity against” the original COVID-19 strain and the United Kingdom variant.
While it is good news, the researchers wrote: “The continued evolution of SARS-CoV-2 requires continuous monitoring of the importance of changes to the protection maintained by currently authorized vaccines.”
Fox News solicited comments from Pfizer about the findings of the Rockefeller researchers.
The Associated Press and Paul Best of Fox News contributed to this report.