D. Weissman, M. Alameh, T. D. de Silva, P. Collini, Hailey Hornsby, Rebecca Brown, C. Labranche, Robert J Edwards, Laura L. Sutherland, S. Santra, K. Mansouri, S. Gobeil, C. McDanal, Norbert Pardi, N. Hengartner, Paulo J.C. Lin, Ying K. Tam, P. Shaw, Mark G. Lewis, Carsten Boesler, U. Şahin, P. Acharya, B. Haynes, B. Korber, D. Montefiori
medRxiv, 2020
The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein acquired a D614G mutation early in the COVID-19 pandemic that appears to confer on the virus greater infectivity and now globally is the dominant form of the virus. Certain of the current vaccines entering phase 3 trials are based on the early D614 form of Spike with the goal of eliciting protective neutralizing antibodies. To determine whether D614G mediates neutralization-escape that could compromise vaccine efficacy, sera from Spike-immunized mice, nonhuman primates and humans were evaluated for neutralization of pseudoviruses bearing either D614 or G614 Spike on their surface. In all cases, G614 Spike pseudovirions were moderately more susceptible to neutralization, indicating this is not an escape mutation that would impede current vaccines. Rather, the gain in infectivity provided by D614G came at the cost of making the virus more vulnerable to neutralizing antibodies.
Cited by 110 publications.
Field of study: Medicine