Study reveals increased immunity evasion by Omicron BA.2.75.2 Immunity Omicron Coronavirus Disease COVID BA2752 biorxivpreprint karolinskainst eth imperialcollege
Study: Omicron sublineage BA.2.75.2 exhibits extensive escape from neutralising antibodies. Image Credit: Kateryna Kon /Shutterstock
Given the rapidly emerging variants carrying mutations that aid antibody escape, it is important to constantly test the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies currently in use against these variants to prevent the recurrence of severe coronavirus disease 2019 symptoms. Results The results indicate that the sublineages BA.4.6 and BA.2.75.2 completely evaded neutralization by cilgavimab and the Evusheld vaccine, a combination of the two monoclonal antibodies cilgavimab and tixagevimab. The BA.2.10.4 sublineage showed reduced sensitivity against cilgavimab. However, bebtelovimab was able to neutralize all the sublineages. Sotrovimab showed low neutralization efficacy against all three sublineages tested in the study, as well as the BA.5 sublineage.
Conclusions To conclude, the study tested the neutralization potency of various monoclonal antibodies in clinical use and pre-clinical trials against three emergent sublineages of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, namely BA.4.6, BA.2.10.4, and BA.2.75.2. Serum efficacy in neutralizing these sublineages was also tested.