Viral spike variants evading antibody-mediated immunity

Cell March 2021

We showed that the N439K viral mutation has enhanced binding affinity to the ACE2 receptor and that this variant cause infections with similar clinical outcomes compared to the wild type. This mutation is resistant against neutralising monoclonal antibodies and from polyclonal sera from persons recovered from infection. Our findings have highlighted how this virus can mutate and the need for ongoing molecular surveillance to guide development and usage of vaccines and therapeutics.