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. 2/3
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. 3/3
https://x.com/yunlong_cao/status/1714694260740813290?s=12