Neutralizing Antibody Responses After Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 Infection Do Not Neutralize BA.4 and BA.5 and Can Be Blunted by Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir Treatment.

The factors contributing to the rapid emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in populations that experienced recent surges of BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 infections are not understood. Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) are likely to protect against severe disease if present in sufficient quantity. We found that after BA.2 or BA.2.12.1 infection, NAb responses were largely cross-neutralizing but were much less effective against BA.5. In addition, individuals who were infected and treated early with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) had lower NAb levels than untreated individuals.

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© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Potential conflicts of interest. AFC has received contract payments from Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. and has options in Covicept Therapeutics Inc. DMS has served as a consultant for Bayer Healthcare, Pharma Holdings, and Signant Health and has equity stake in Vx Biosciences, Model Medicines, Linear Therapies and FluxErgy, Inc. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.