Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
- Evaluated articles (NCRC)
- Evaluated articles (Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases)
Abstract
Rapidly spreading variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have arisen in the United Kingdom and South Africa share the spike N501Y substitution, which is of particular concern because it is located in the viral receptor binding site for cell entry and increases binding to the receptor (angiotensin converting enzyme 2). We generated isogenic N501 and Y501 SARS-CoV-2. Sera of 20 participants in a previously reported trial of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 had equivalent neutralizing titers to the N501 and Y501 viruses.
Article activity feed
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.07.425740: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.07.425740: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
-
Binquan Luan, Haoran Wang
Review 4: "Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera"
This preprint showed data that BNT162b2 vaccine may protect against a spike mutation associated with rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 strains, but more work needs to be done.
-
Geraldo Passos
Review 3: "Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera"
This preprint showed data that BNT162b2 vaccine may protect against a spike mutation associated with rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 strains, but more work needs to be done.
-
Kimberly Luke
Review 2: "Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera"
This preprint showed data that BNT162b2 vaccine may protect against a spike mutation associated with rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 strains, but more work needs to be done.
-
Kabir Biswas
Review 1: "Neutralization of N501Y mutant SARS-CoV-2 by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera"
This preprint showed data that BNT162b2 vaccine may protect against a spike mutation associated with rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 strains, but more work needs to be done.
-
Strength of evidence
Reviewers: Kabir Biswas (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) | 📘📘📘📘📘
Kimberly Luke (Intuitive Biosciences) | 📒📒📒◻️◻️
Geraldo Passos (University of Sao Paulo) | 📗📗📗📗◻️
Binquan Luan (IBM T J Watson Research), Haoran Wang (Neoland Bioscience) | 📘📘📘📘📘 -
Our take
The study, available as a preprint and thus not yet peer reviewed, showed that Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine-induced antibodies are reactive against an important mutation in the two newly reported SARS-CoV-2 variants. While these results are encouraging, testing the efficacy against the whole set of mutations in these new variants is essential. In addition, continuous monitoring of vaccinated individuals will ultimately determine the degree and longevity of protection the vaccine provides against these variants.
Study design
cross-sectional
Study population and setting
The study included samples from 20 participants from the Pfizer/ BioNTech’s phase3 SARS-CoV-2 clinical trial. The sera were collected from participants at 2 and 4 weeks after the second standard dose of the vaccine. The authors tested …
Our take
The study, available as a preprint and thus not yet peer reviewed, showed that Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine-induced antibodies are reactive against an important mutation in the two newly reported SARS-CoV-2 variants. While these results are encouraging, testing the efficacy against the whole set of mutations in these new variants is essential. In addition, continuous monitoring of vaccinated individuals will ultimately determine the degree and longevity of protection the vaccine provides against these variants.
Study design
cross-sectional
Study population and setting
The study included samples from 20 participants from the Pfizer/ BioNTech’s phase3 SARS-CoV-2 clinical trial. The sera were collected from participants at 2 and 4 weeks after the second standard dose of the vaccine. The authors tested the ability of these sera to prevent the infection of cultured cells with SARS-CoV-2 with and without a mutation at the amino acid 501, a common mutation in the receptor binding domain between the newly described UK and South-African variants.
Summary of main findings
The study found that there was no reduction in the neutralization activity of the sera from the previously vaccinated participants against a mutant virus.
Study strengths
Recently, new SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants were reported initially in UK and South Africa and subsequently were detected in many other countries. These variants are of public health interest because they are associated with recent increases in cases. As these variants have mutations in the spike protein, the target of many vaccines including those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, they raised the concerns about the efficacy of the current vaccines against these variants. This study tested the ability of the vaccine-induced antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 viral particles carrying one of the mutations that changes the amino acid number 501 from asparagine to tyrosine. This mutation was found in both the UK and South African variants and was shown to increase the binding of the virus to its receptor. The study included 20 participants and the sera from these participants were simultaneously tested against both the mutant and wildtype viruses.
Limitations
The study is relatively small, and included only one mutation in the viral spike protein and not the full set of changes seen in the new variants. The sera tested was also taken soon after the second dose of the vaccine and may not reflect the neutralization potential later after vaccination.
Value added
This study suggests that the currently used Pfizer/BioNTech COVID19 vaccine is effective against one of the common mutations in two newly described SARS-CoV-2 variants.
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.07.425740: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.07.425740: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
About SciScore
SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.
-
