Anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies retaining neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (omicron)

  

View ORCID ProfileMaya Imbrechts, Winnie Kerstens, Madina Rasulova, Thomas Vercruysse, Wim Maes, Louanne Ampofo, Karen Ven, Jeroen Lammertyn, Karen Vanhoorelbeke, Nico Callewaert, Johan Neyts, Kai Dallmeier, Paul Declerck,  View ORCID ProfileHendrik Jan Thibaut, Nick Geukens

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.21.473706

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

PDF: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.473706v1.full.pdf

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529, designated omicron, was recently identified as a new variant of concern by WHO and is rapidly replacing SARS-CoV-2 delta as the most dominant variant in many countries. Unfortunately, because of the high number of mutations present in the spike of SARS-CoV-2 omicron, most monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) currently approved for treatment of COVID-19 lose their in vitro neutralizing activity against this variant. We recently described a panel of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs that potently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, D614G and variants alpha, beta, gamma and delta. In this work, we evaluated our mAb panel for potential in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 delta and omicron. Three mAbs from our panel retain neutralizing activity against both delta and omicron, with mAb 3B8 still resulting in complete neutralization at a concentration as low as 0.02 ug/ml for both variants. Overall, our data indicate that mAb 3B8 may have the potential to become a game-changer in the fight against the continuously evolving SARS-CoV-2.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.473706v1