New Lambda variant might be resistant to vaccines
Lambda COVID variant: All you need to know
[Media report.] The new variant, which has also been called C.37, accounts for 71 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in Peru from January to June 2021. Peru’s Minister of Health, Óscar Raúl Ugarte Ubilluz, said that the Lambda strain has now spread around the world. “[The Lambda variant] has been identified in the United States, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Germany, not only in Peru.”
Lambda Variant of COVID-19 Might Be Resistant to Vaccines
[Media report.] A preprint study by investigators in Chile suggests that the mutation, which first surfaced in Peru about a year ago and is highly infectious, may also be able to evade vaccine antibodies. “Our results indicate that mutations present in the spike protein of the lambda variant of interest confer increased infectivity and immune escape from neutralizing antibodies elicited by CoronaVac.”
Infectivity and immune escape of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest Lambda
[Preprint.] We performed a pseudotyped virus neutralization assay and determined the impact of the Lambda variant on infectivity and immune escape using plasma samples from healthcare workers (HCW) from two centers in Santiago, Chile who received the two-doses scheme of the inactivated virus vaccine CoronaVac. We observed an increased infectivity mediated by the Lambda spike protein that was even higher than that of the D614G (lineage B) or the Alpha and Gamma variants. Compared to the Wild type (lineage A), neutralization was decreased by 3.05-fold for the Lambda variant while it was 2.33-fold for the Gamma variant and 2.03-fold for the Alpha variant.
Introduction of SARS-COV-2 C.37 (WHO VOI lambda) from Peru to Italy
We report here the introduction of SARS-COV-2 C.37, a variant of interest (VOI) recently renamed “lambda” by WHO, from Peru to Italy. We discuss mutations of concern in this lineage, and evidences for impaired sensitivity to neutralizing antibody-therapeutics and vaccines.
SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant exhibits higher infectivity and immune resistance
[Preprint.] Here we reveal that the spike protein of the Lambda variant is more infectious and it is attributed to the T76I and L452Q mutations. The RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation, a unique 7-amino-acid deletion mutation in the N-terminal domain of the Lambda spike protein, is responsible for evasion from neutralizing antibodies. Since the Lambda variant has dominantly spread according to the increasing frequency of the isolates harboring the RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation, our data suggest that the insertion of the RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation is closely associated with the massive infection spread of the Lambda variant in South America.