REVIEW: Antigenic Cartography of SARS-CoV-2

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Ekaterina A. Astakhova^1,2,a*, Alexey A. Morozov^1,2, Julia D. Vavilova³, and Alexander V. Filatov^1,2

¹National Research Center Institute of Immunology, Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia, 115522 Moscow, Russia

²Department of Immunology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia

³Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia

Received November 7, 2023; Revised January 14, 2024; Accepted January 17, 2024

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Antigenic cartography is a tool for interpreting and visualizing antigenic differences between virus variants based on virus neutralization data. This approach has been successfully used in the selection of influenza vaccine seed strains. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants escaping vaccine-induced antibody response, adjusting COVID-19 vaccines has become essential. This review provides information on the antigenic differences between SARS-CoV-2 variants revealed by antigenic cartography and explores a potential of antigenic cartography-based methods (e.g., building antibody landscapes and neutralization breadth gain plots) for the quantitative assessment of the breadth of the antibody response. Understanding the antigenic differences of SARS-CoV-2 and the possibilities of the formed humoral immunity aids in the prompt modification of preventative vaccines against COVID-19.

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KEY WORDS: antigenic cartography, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, breadth of virus-neutralization

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297924050079

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