Monitoring antibody protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants

在SARS-CoV-2大流行之后，疫苗被迅速开发，并且它们提供的对感染的保护，更重要的是对严重疾病的保护，挽救了许多生命。认为在接种疫苗或自然感染后对刺突蛋白的抗体应答，沿着T细胞应答介导保护。自2019年底出现以来，SARS-CoV-2病毒经历了重大的进化变化，刺突蛋白是突变的热点。一波又一波的新变种病毒在感染中占主导地位，然后又被新的病毒株所取代。刺突突变发生在对抗体结合至关重要的区域，由疫苗接种和感染诱导，使它们不太能够中和病毒和预防感染。因此，SARS-CoV-2病毒面临着巨大的选择压力，需要继续进化并逃避免疫反应，以维持人类的感染周期，其中许多人已经接受了多种疫苗和自然感染。现在很清楚，SARS-CoV-2已在人类中建立，并将长期存在。该工作方案旨在研究病毒的持续进化及其逃避免疫反应的能力。我们的研究结果将有助于评估新出现的变异带来的风险，为脆弱人群选择未来的疫苗，并可能导致单克隆抗体疗法的发展。

Vaccines were rapidly developed following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the protection from infection and more importantly from severe disease they afford has saved may lives. Antibody responses to the spike protein following vaccination or natural infection are believed, along with T cell responses to mediate protection. Since its emergence in late 2019 the SARS-CoV-2 virus has undergone significant evolutionary change and the spike protein is a hotspot for mutations. Successive waves of new variants have dominated infections and then been replaced by new strains. Mutations in spike occur in regions crucial for the binding of antibodies, induced by vaccination and infection, rendering them less able to neutralise the virus and prevent infection. There is thus a huge selective pressure for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to continue to evolve and escape immune responses in order to maintain infectious cycles in the human population, many of whom have received multiple vaccines and natural infections.It is now clear that SARS-CoV-2 is established in humans and will be present for the long term. This programme of work aims to study the continued evolution of the virus and its ability to escape the immune response. Our findings will aid the assessment of the risk that newly emerging variants pose, the choice of future vaccines for vulnerable populations and may lead to the development of monoclonal antibody theraies.