Preprint: Russian Khosta-2 bat virus resistant to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Bats, Coronavirus, Genome, Health, Infection, Preprint, Research, Russia, Spillover, Testing, Transmission, Vaccine

“We found that the spike from virus, Khosta-2, could infect cells similar to human pathogens using the same entry mechanisms, but was resistant to neutralization by serum from individuals who had been vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2.”.

Khosta-2, a sarbecovirus discovered in Russia, has been shown to interact with the same entry receptor as SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we tested how well the spike proteins from these bat viruses infect human cells under different conditions. We found that the spike from virus, Khosta-2, could infect cells similar to human pathogens using the same entry mechanisms, but was resistant to neutralization by serum from individuals who had been vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2.

To assess if the ACE2-dependent Khosta 2 RBD and SARS-CoV-2 RBD were cross-reactive, we incubated pseudotyped particles with increasing amounts of the SARS-CoV-2 RBD-specific monoclonal antibody, Bamlanivimab. Surprisingly, while SARS-CoV-2 spike was effectively neutralized by the antibody, the SARS-CoV-2 spike with the Khosta 2 RBD was completely resistant, suggesting little cross-reactivity between the two RBDs

Preprint: An ACE2-dependent Sarbecovirus in Russian bats is resistant to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

 

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Image by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

** This post was originally published on September 24, 2022 **