Science: A complete map of viral mutations reveals that new coronavirus mutations can evade antibody therapy

January 26, 2021 /--- In a new study, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington and other research institutions have developed a new way to map viral mutations that "escape" major clinical antibodies, revealing mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus that allow it to evade treatment, including a single amino acid mutation that completely evades antibody cocktails developed by Regeneron.
results were published online January 25, 2021 in the journal Science under the title "Prospective mapping of viral mutations that escape antibodies used to treat COVID-19".
authors say the maps suggest that previous descriptions of the SARS-CoV-2 escape mutation are incomplete.
will also help to provide an immediate explanation of the effects of mutations listed in the virus genome monitoring process.
background of the escape mutation, pictured is science, 2021, doi:10.1126/science.abf9302.
antibodies are being used or are being developed as a treatment for COVID-19.
with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, it is important to predict whether they are still sensitive to antibody therapy.
most anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies target virus-binding domains (RBDs), rbD promotes the virus's binding to ACE2 binds on host cells.
the authors recently developed a scanning method to plot how mutations in RBD affect its recognition by antibodies.
in the new study, the authors used this method to demonstrate how the RBD mutation in SARS-CoV-2 affects the binding of two antibodies in REGN-COV2 (REGN10933 and REGN10987) and the antibody LY-CoV016 developed by Lilly.
they focused on mutations in SARS-CoV-2 RBD that do not strongly disrupt binding to hosts (ACE-2) to plot how these mutations affect binding to these three anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
the map found mutations that evade antibody binding, including, surprisingly, individual mutations that evaded the binding of two antibodies in REN-COV2.
To determine whether this escape mutation map could provide information for analyzing virus evolution in infected people, the authors examined in-depth sequencing data from a persistent infection who was treated with REGNON-COV2 on the 145th day after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
this analysis found resistance mutations in the patient.
the authors say three of the four escape mutations they found were not found in the regenerative company's virus cell culture options, highlighting an advantage of the complete map used in the paper.
this complete map also allows them to assess which escape mutations already exist in the spreading SARS-CoV-2.
examining the all-source SARS-CoV-2 sequence available as of January 11, 2021, they reported that a large number of RBD mutations that escape one or more antibodies spread through the population.
(Bioon.com) Reference: 1.Tyler N. Starr et al. Prospective mapping of viral mutations that escape antibodies used to treat COVID-19. Science, 2021, doi:10.1126/science.abf9302.2.Mapping mutations that escape antibodies against COVID-19 suggests prior mapping incomplete