SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

Willett, Brian J., Grove, Joe, MacLean, Oscar A., Wilkie, Craig, De Lorenzo, Giuditta, Furnon, Wilhelm, Cantoni, Diego, Scott, Sam, Logan, Nicola, Ashraf, Shirin, Manali, Maria, Szemiel, Agnieszka, Cowton, Vanessa, Vink, Elen, Harvey, William T., Davis, Chris, Asamaphan, Patawee, Smollett, Katherine, Tong, Lily, Orton, Richard, Hughes, Joseph, Holland, Poppy, Silva, Vanessa, Pascall, David J., Puxty, Kathryn, da Silva Filipe, Ana, Yebra, Gonzalo, Shaaban, Sharif, Holden, Matthew T.G., Pinto, Rute Maria, Gunson, Rory, Templeton, Kate, Murcia, Pablo R., Patel, Arvind H., Klenerman, Paul, Dunachie, Susanna, Robertson, David L., Palmarini, Massimo, Ray, Surajit and Thomson, Emma C. and PITCH Consortium, The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium (2022) SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway. Nature Microbiology, 7 (8). pp. 1161-1179. ISSN 2058-5276

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Abstract

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid mutations in spike, half of which lie within the receptor-binding domain. Here we demonstrate substantial evasion of neutralization by Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in vitro using sera from individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273. These data were mirrored by a substantial reduction in real-world vaccine effectiveness that was partially restored by booster vaccination. The Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 did not induce cell syncytia in vitro and favoured a TMPRSS2-independent endosomal entry pathway, these phenotypes mapping to distinct regions of the spike protein. Impaired cell fusion was determined by the receptor-binding domain, while endosomal entry mapped to the S2 domain. Such marked changes in antigenicity and replicative biology may underlie the rapid global spread and altered pathogenicity of the Omicron variant.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Publisher correction: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01241-6
Uncontrolled Keywords:	microbiology,immunology,applied microbiology and biotechnology,genetics,microbiology (medical),cell biology,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2400/2404
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Nutrition and Preventive Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Musculoskeletal Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	21 Sep 2022 16:30
Last Modified:	06 Jun 2024 15:20
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/88562
DOI:	10.1038/s41564-022-01143-7

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