We investigated how previous immunity and intrinsic immunogenicity affect the generation of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants. Although previous immunity partially reduces subtype-specific responses to a new virus variant, we found that poor immunogenicity of the mutated epitopes in the infecting virus has a larger effect on limiting new responses.
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This is a summary of: Quirk, G. E. et al. Intrinsic immunogenicity is a major determinant of type-specific responses in post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infections. Nat. Immunol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02162-2 (2025).
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Mutated epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 variants are poorly immunogenic. Nat Immunol 26, 825–826 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02164-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02164-0
