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[Preprint]. 2022 Feb 7:2022.02.06.22270533.
doi: 10.1101/2022.02.06.22270533.

Comparable Neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Variants

Jingyou Yu  1 , Ai-Ris Y Collier  1 , Marjorie Rowe  1 , Fatima Mardas  1 , John D Ventura  1 , Huahua Wan  1 , Jessica Miller  1 , Olivia Powers  1 , Benjamin Chung  1 , Mazuba Siamatu  1 , Nicole P Hachmann  1 , Nehalee Surve  1 , Felix Nampanya  1 , Abishek Chandrashekar  1 , Dan H Barouch  1
Affiliations

Comparable Neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Variants

Jingyou Yu et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

  • Neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Variants.
    Yu J, Collier AY, Rowe M, Mardas F, Ventura JD, Wan H, Miller J, Powers O, Chung B, Siamatu M, Hachmann NP, Surve N, Nampanya F, Chandrashekar A, Barouch DH. Yu J, et al. N Engl J Med. 2022 Apr 21;386(16):1579-1580. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2201849. Epub 2022 Mar 16. N Engl J Med. 2022. PMID: 35294809 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) has three major lineages BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3 1 . BA.1 rapidly became dominant and has demonstrated substantial escape from neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) induced by vaccination 2-4 . BA.2 has recently increased in frequency in multiple regions of the world, suggesting that BA.2 has a selective advantage over BA.1. BA.1 and BA.2 share multiple common mutations, but both also have unique mutations 1 ( Fig. 1A ). The ability of BA.2 to evade NAbs induced by vaccination or infection has not yet been reported. We evaluated WA1/2020, Omicron BA.1, and BA.2 NAbs in 24 individuals who were vaccinated and boosted with the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine 5 and in 8 individuals who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 ( Table S1 ).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Neutralizing antibody responses to Omicron BA.1 and BA.2.
A. Cartoon showing BA.1 and BA.2 mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Spike. NTD, N-terminal domain; RBD, receptor binding domain; RBM, receptor binding motif; SD1, subdomain 1; SD2, subdomain 2; FP, fusion peptide; HR1, heptad repeat 1; HR2, heptad repeat 2. B. Neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers by a luciferase-based pseudovirus neutralization assay in individuals two weeks following initial BNT162b2 vaccination (Prime), prior to boost (Pre-Boost), and two weeks following the third boost with BNT162b2 (Boost). C. NAb titers in 8 individuals following infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1, of whom 7 were vaccinated. The individual with negative NAb titers was unvaccinated and was sampled 4 days following diagnosis and hospitalization with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Responses were measured against the SARS-CoV-2 WA1/2020, Omicron BA.1, and BA.2 variants. Medians (red bars) are depicted and shown numerically with fold differences.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Neutralizing antibody responses to Omicron BA.1 and BA.2.
A. Cartoon showing BA.1 and BA.2 mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Spike. NTD, N-terminal domain; RBD, receptor binding domain; RBM, receptor binding motif; SD1, subdomain 1; SD2, subdomain 2; FP, fusion peptide; HR1, heptad repeat 1; HR2, heptad repeat 2. B. Neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers by a luciferase-based pseudovirus neutralization assay in individuals two weeks following initial BNT162b2 vaccination (Prime), prior to boost (Pre-Boost), and two weeks following the third boost with BNT162b2 (Boost). C. NAb titers in 8 individuals following infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1, of whom 7 were vaccinated. The individual with negative NAb titers was unvaccinated and was sampled 4 days following diagnosis and hospitalization with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Responses were measured against the SARS-CoV-2 WA1/2020, Omicron BA.1, and BA.2 variants. Medians (red bars) are depicted and shown numerically with fold differences.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Viana R, Moyo S, Amoako DG, et al. Rapid epidemic expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in southern Africa. Nature 2022. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cele S, Jackson L, Khoury DS, et al. Omicron extensively but incompletely escapes Pfizer BNT162b2 neutralization. Nature 2021. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schmidt F, Muecksch F, Weisblum Y, et al. Plasma Neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant. N Engl J Med 2021. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu L, Iketani S, Guo Y, et al. Striking Antibody Evasion Manifested by the Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV-2. Nature 2021. - PubMed
    1. Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine. N Engl J Med 2020. - PMC - PubMed

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