Updates on emerging variants JN.1, JD.1.1, HV.1

This is a copy of our previous thread on Twitter.

Updates on several concerning variants, JN.1 (BA.2.86+L455S), JD.1.1(FLip+A475V), HV.1(EG.5+L452R).
(1) L455S on BA.2.86 (JN.1) greatly increases antibody evasion at the cost of ACE2 binding.
(2) HV.1 and JD.1.1 are more evasive than FLip but display lower ACE2 binding as well.

L455S mainly escapes Class 1 neutralizing antibodies, which made up for the weakness of BA.2.86 (vulnerable to Class 1 Abs). Of note, FLip + A475V could evade almost all of Class 1 Abs, which explains why we have seen so many A475V mutations on FLip variants recently.

These data again emphasize that high ACE2 binding affinities, such as FLip (455F+456L) variants and BA.2.86, would allow fast collections of mutations that can further boost immune evasion.