Alternative antigen to defuse SARS-CoV-2 delta variant and its ensuing evolutionary lineage

Abstract

Efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic are underway, andvaccination is imposing selection pressure on SARS-CoV-2 [1]. Inthis context, a fitness advantage is bestowed on virus variantscapable of evading vaccine-induced immune surveillance. Thus,the highly contagious delta variant (B.1.617.2, https://covariants.org/variants/21A.Delta) has been selected as one of the fitteststrains and is spreading rapidly [2–4], fueling a threateninginfection wave. The extreme infectivity of this variant providesenough substrate for further evolutionary change and makes itlikely that its ensuing evolutionary offspring may soon evadethe vaccine-induced immune response. Some degree of evasionof induced immune surveillance is already becoming apparentin the omicron strain (B1.1.529). Thus, to effectively complementcurrent vaccination efforts and in anticipation of thevaccine-evading evolutionary fate of SARS-CoV-2, it is imperativeto develop targeted therapies against the delta variant thatare effective also against its evolutionary offspring.