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SARS-CoV-2 Delta poised to acquire resistance to wild-type spike vaccines [pdf]
- yasp 5y agoFull title: The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is poised to acquire complete resistance to wild-type spike vaccines
- nanis 5y agoFrom the discussion: > A third round of booster immunization with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is currently under consideration. Our data suggest that repeated immunization with the wild-type spike may not be effective in controlling the newly emerging Delta variants. We demonstrated that immunization by Delta spike induces antibodies that neutralize not only the Delta variant but also wild-type and the Delta 4+ variant without enhancing the infectivity. Although mRNA vaccination may yield different results from our animal model, development of mRNA vaccine expressing the Delta spike might be effective for controlling the emerging Delta variant. However, epitopes of the enhancing antibodies, not neutralizing antibodies, are well conserved in most SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the Delta variant. Therefore, additional immunization of the spike protein derived from SARS-CoV-2 variants may boost enhancing antibodies more than the neutralizing antibodies in individuals who were previously infected with wild-type SARS-CoV-2 or immunized with vaccines composed of wild-type spike protein. (emphasis mine)