The omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which have rapidly spread around the world over the past year, latch onto our cells more tightly, invade them more efficiently, and elude many of the antibodies induced by previous infections and vaccines. These are some of the key findings from a multinational team of researchers reporting today in the journal Nature.
and invade much more efficiently than previous SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants," Veesler said.
They have also been able to reinfect people who had been infected by earlier variants and break through the immune protection of vaccines designed to protect against the earlier variants. These reinfections and breakthrough infections are possible because the new variants can evade antibodies induced by exposure to the earlier variants, Veesler and his colleagues found.
Although the neutralizing activity of most antibodies generated against earlier variants was much reduced, the effectiveness of one antibody, called S309, was retained. "S309 still recognizes all these variants and neutralizes them , promotes the cellular response, and protects against disease in animal studies," Veesler said.
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