Reduced antibody cross-reactivity following infection with B.1.1.7 than with parental SARS-CoV-2 strains
- The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom
- University College London, United Kingdom
- University College London Hospital, United Kingdom
- University of KwaZulu-Natal,SA, South Africa
- Africa Health Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- The Francis Crick Insitute, United Kingdom
Abstract
Background: The degree of heterotypic immunity induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains is a major determinant of the spread of emerging variants and the success of vaccination campaigns, but remains incompletely understood.
Methods: We examined the immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 (Alpha) that arose in the United Kingdom and spread globally. We determined titres of spike glycoprotein-binding antibodies and authentic virus neutralising antibodies induced by B.1.1.7 infection to infer homotypic and heterotypic immunity.
Results: Antibodies elicited by B.1.1.7 infection exhibited significantly reduced recognition and neutralisation of parental strains or of the South Africa variant B.1.351 (Beta) than of the infecting variant. The drop in cross-reactivity was significantly more pronounced following B.1.1.7 than parental strain infection.
Conclusions: The results indicate that heterotypic immunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 variants is asymmetric.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Francis Crick Institute
- Nikhil Faulkner
- Kevin W Ng
- Mary Y Wu
- Ruth Harvey
- Saira Hussain
- Maria Greco
- William Bolland
- Scott Warchal
- Svend Kjaer
- Charles Swanton
- Sonia Gandhi
- Rupert Beale
- Steve j Gamblin
- John W McCauley
- Rodney Stuart Daniels
- Michael Howell
- David Bauer
- George Kassiotis
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems Magdeburg
- Alex Sigal
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: Serum or plasma samples were obtained from University College London Hospitals (UCLH) (REC ref: 20/HRA/2505).
Copyright
© 2021, Faulkner et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Reduced antibody cross-reactivity following infection with B.1.1.7 than with parental SARS-CoV-2 strains
eLife 10:e69317.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69317
