[gewa]

Please note, that neutralization by antibodies is only one of the many possible ways how our immune system can take action. Antibody recognition is still possible with the found mutant:

"To determine whether 501Y.V2 is still recognized by non-neutralizing antibodies, the binding of polyclonal sera (from Fig.2a) to a recombinant 501Y.V2 RBD+SBD1 protein and an RBD+SBD1 from the original lineage was assessed by ELISA (Fig.2b). These data revealed that binding of polyclonal plasma to 501Y.V2 RBD+SBD1 was only substantially affected in a minority of cases (14 of 44 with ≥five-fold reduction, 32%). Most of the convalescent plasma/serum suffered less than four-fold reductions in total binding activity (as measured by area under the curve), suggesting a considerable non-neutralizing antibody component are still able to bind the 501Y.V2 spike antigen"

Its also worth to note that only 44 plasma samples were used from individuals out of a population where the virus probably originated.

[chemeng]

Looks like this was posted again, so I'll post my response here as well:

This is correct, but just want to add that many may interpret this as a positive sign, it is not necessarily. In many cases, binding antibodies increase cell infectivity. Also, there is some research that indicates the presence of non-neutralizing antibodies without the corresponding neutralizing antibodies and humoral response may be a factor in the development of antibody dependent enhancement. As far as we know, it is the neutralization potency that strongly correlates with disease severity.

[timr]

Everything you've written is speculation or assertion, whereas the OP's comment is a factual statement about the limitation of the work. They're showing that this mutation escapes a few particular antibodies. That's all.

At the very least, the current headline "strongly resistant to past immunity" is editorialized and completely misleading, and should be changed to the title of the paper.

> In many cases, binding antibodies increase cell infectivity.

Citation absolutely required. I am unaware of an example of this, let alone "many cases".