New Omicron subvariant BQ.1.1 resistant to all therapeutic antibodies
New antibody therapies required
Are the currently approved antibody therapies used to treat individuals at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease also effective against currently circulating viral variants? A recent study by researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and FAU shows that the Omicron sub-lineage BQ.1.1, currently on the rise worldwide, is resistant to all approved antibody therapies. They have published their findings in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
As a result of an infection with the SARS coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) or a COVID-19 vaccination, an immune response is triggered, leading to the formation of neutralizing antibodies that help protect against (re)infection with SARS-CoV-2 or a severe course of the disease. Neutralizing antibodies protect by binding to the viral spike protein, which prevents the virus from entering cells.
However, due to mutations in the spike protein, some SARS-CoV-2 variants, particularly the Omicron variant, evade neutralizing antibodies and cause symptomatic infections even in vaccinated or convalescent persons. This is referred to as immune evasion and threatens high-risk groups such as the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, for example, due to illness or medication. They often fail to develop an immune response sufficient for protection from severe disease, even after full vaccination.
To protect high-risk patients, biotechnologically produced antibodies are administered as a preventive measure or as an early therapy upon confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mutations in the spike protein of different SARS-CoV-2 variants confer resistance to individual antibody therapies. Therefore, it is important to regularly monitor whether therapeutic antibodies continue to be effective against currently circulating viral variants.
Together with researchers from the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Jäck and Sebastian Schulz from the Department of Molecular Immunology at Department of Medicine 3 at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have investigated how efficiently approved antibody therapies inhibit the currently circulating Omicron subvariants. The researchers found that the Omicron subvariant BQ.1.1, which is on the rise worldwide, is resistant to all available antibody therapies.
The researchers found that the Omicron subvariant BQ.1.1 could not be neutralized by either individual antibodies or antibody cocktails. In contrast, the currently predominant Omicron subvariant BA.5 was still neutralized by one approved antibody and two approved antibody cocktails. The finding that the Omicron subvariant BQ.1.1 is already resistant to a new antibody therapy that is about to be approved in the U.S. highlights the importance of developing new antibody therapies against COVID-19.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00733-2
Further information:
Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Jäck
Phone: +49 9131 85 35912