The Lambda variant of SARS-CoV-2 has a better chance than the Delta variant to escape vaccines

Liu, Haolin; Wei, Pengcheng; Zhang, Qianqian; Aviszus, Katja; Linderberger, Jared; Yang, John; Liu, Junfeng; Chen, Zhongzhou; Waheed, Hassan; Reynoso, Lyndon; Downey, Gregory P.; Frankel, Stephen K.; Kappler, John; Marrack, Philippa; Zhang, Gongyi

The newly emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 from India (Delta variant) and South America (Lambda variant) have led to a higher infection rate of either vaccinated or unvaccinated people. We found that sera from Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remain high reactivity toward the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Delta variant while it drops dramatically toward that of Lambda variant. Interestingly, the overall titer of antibodies of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinated individuals drops 3-fold after 6 months, which could be one of major reasons for breakthrough infections, emphasizing the importance of potential third boost shot. While a therapeutic antibody, Bamlanivimab, decreases binding affinity to Delta variant by ~20 fold, it fully lost binding to Lambda variant. Structural modeling of complexes of RBD with human receptor, Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), and Bamlanivimab suggest the potential basis of the change of binding. The data suggest possible danger and a potential surge of Lambda variant in near future.