Receptor-mimicking antibodies retain neutralization of recent SARS-CoV-2 variants
Qi Tang, Liyuan Hu, Minxiang Xie, Ran Zhan, Qiao Wang, Rong Zhang · 2026
Read Receptor-mimicking antibodies retain neutralization of recent SARS-CoV-2 variants by Qi Tang, Liyuan Hu, Minxiang Xie, Ran Zhan, Qiao Wang, Rong Zhang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13541768.txt.
Description
Tang and co-authors test whether antibodies that mimic the human ACE2 receptor can keep neutralising SARS-CoV-2 as the virus keeps mutating. Most antibodies fail when the spike's receptor-binding region changes shape. A receptor mimic, though, grips exactly the patch the virus cannot afford to change, since it must still latch onto ACE2 to infect cells. Their 2026 study challenged a panel of such antibodies against recent variants, measuring killing power, binding strength, and the physical interface in structural detail.
One antibody, VIR-7229, held up best, potently neutralising the original strain and three major variant waves while keeping considerable activity against the newest lineages tested, KP.3.1.1, XEC, and a descendant of XEC. Binding assays and structural analysis showed its grip on the spike essentially intact despite the accumulated mutations around it.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Qi Tang, Liyuan Hu, Minxiang Xie, Ran Zhan, Qiao Wang, Rong Zhang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 38 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |