The ability of the Mu variant of the coronavirus to escape from antibodies and vaccines can aid in preparations against other emerging variants, Japanese researchers say.
The variant has driven outbreaks in Colombia and is now classified as a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organization, although it appears unlikely to overtake the far more prevalent Delta variant.
In test tube experiments, researchers found that Mu is "highly resistant" to antibodies in blood samples from COVID-19 survivors and from people who got the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
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In fact, the spike used by the virus to break into cells was more resistant to neutralisation than all other currently recognised variants of interest and variants of concern, the researchers reported on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
Dr Eric Topol of the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, who was not involved in the research, noted in a tweet on Wednesday that Delta's high infectiousness surpasses Mu's ability to escape from antibodies.
Nevertheless, study coauthor Kei Sato of the University of Tokyo said understanding how variations in spike proteins affect the potency of neutralisation antibodies is important for developing new vaccines and predicting breakthrough infections.
