Monitoring antibody protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants

在SARS-CoV-2大流行之后，疫苗得到了迅速开发，它们提供的防止感染，更重要的是防止严重疾病的保护，挽救了许多生命。疫苗接种或自然感染后对刺突蛋白的抗体反应被认为与T细胞反应一起介导保护。自2019年底出现以来，SARS-CoV-2病毒发生了重大进化变化，刺突蛋白是突变的热点。一波接一波的新变种在感染中占主导地位，然后被新的菌株所取代。刺突突变发生在对抗体结合至关重要的区域，这是由疫苗接种和感染引起的，使它们无法中和病毒并预防感染。因此，SARS-CoV-2病毒面临着巨大的选择性压力，需要继续进化并逃避免疫反应，以维持人群中的感染周期，其中许多人已经接种了多种疫苗和自然感染。现在很清楚，SARS-CoV-2在人体中已经存在，并将长期存在。这一工作规划的目的是研究病毒的持续演变及其逃避免疫反应的能力。我们的发现将有助于评估新出现的变异所带来的风险，为易感人群选择未来的疫苗，并可能导致单克隆抗体治疗的发展。

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 Successive waves of new variants have dominated infections and then been replaced by new strains.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.