- New research from UNC Charlotte’s Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) found that the COVID-19 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 are not significantly better at evading immune responses or causing infections than Omicron.
- Extensive computational analyses showed that BA.2.86 and JN.1 had minor changes in immune evasion compared to earlier variants, including Omicron.
- The research team assessed the binding affinity of neutralizing antibodies and ACE2 for BA.2.86 and JN.1, finding no statistically significant changes in comparison to previous variants.
- RBD evolution in SARS-CoV-2 variants is becoming asymptotic, leading to a focus on mutations outside of the RBD in future research.
- Researchers emphasize the importance of a functional approach to viral sequencing and caution against solely relying on RBD mutations to predict immune evasion.
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Infectious Diseases, Immunology, Public Health & Prevention