ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission leads to the emergence of variants, including the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of concern that is causing a new wave of infections and has become globally dominant. We show that these variants dampen the in vitro potency of vaccine-elicited serum neutralizing antibodies and provide a structural framework for describing their immune evasion. Mutations in the B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and Delta spike glycoproteins abrogate recognition by several monoclonal antibodies via alteration of key antigenic sites, including remodeling of the Delta amino-terminal domain. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 binding affinities of the Kappa and Delta receptor binding domains are comparable to the Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate, whereas B.1.617.2+ (Delta+) exhibits markedly reduced affinity.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/immunology , Immune Evasion , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/chemistry , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology , 2019-nCoV Vaccine mRNA-1273/immunology , Ad26COVS1/immunology , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/metabolism , Antibodies, Neutralizing/blood , Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology , Antibodies, Neutralizing/metabolism , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/metabolism , Antigens, Viral/chemistry , Antigens, Viral/immunology , BNT162 Vaccine/immunology , Cryoelectron Microscopy , Humans , Models, Molecular , Mutation , Protein Binding , Protein Conformation , Protein Domains , Protein Folding , Receptors, Coronavirus/metabolism , SARS-CoV-2/chemistry , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/metabolismABSTRACT
Worldwide SARS-CoV-2 transmission leads to the recurrent emergence of variants, such as the recently described B.1.617.1 (kappa), B.1.617.2 (delta) and B.1.617.2+ (delta+). The B.1.617.2 (delta) variant of concern is causing a new wave of infections in many countries, mostly affecting unvaccinated individuals, and has become globally dominant. We show that these variants dampen the in vitro potency of vaccine-elicited serum neutralizing antibodies and provide a structural framework for describing the impact of individual mutations on immune evasion. Mutations in the B.1.617.1 (kappa) and B.1.617.2 (delta) spike glycoproteins abrogate recognition by several monoclonal antibodies via alteration of key antigenic sites, including an unexpected remodeling of the B.1.617.2 (delta) N-terminal domain. The binding affinity of the B.1.617.1 (kappa) and B.1.617.2 (delta) receptor-binding domain for ACE2 is comparable to the ancestral virus whereas B.1.617.2+ (delta+) exhibits markedly reduced affinity. We describe a previously uncharacterized class of N-terminal domain-directed human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies cross-reacting with several variants of concern, revealing a possible target for vaccine development.
