Omicron BA.4/BA.5 escape neutralizing immunity elicited by BA.1 infection

Khadija Khan, Farina Karim, Yashica Ganga, Mallory Bernstein, Zesuliwe Jule, Kajal Reedoy, Sandile Cele, Gila Lustig, Daniel Amoako, Nicole Wolter, Natasha Samsunder, Aida Sivro, James Emmanuel San, Jennifer Giandhari, Houriiyah Tegally, Sureshnee Pillay, Yeshnee Naidoo, Matilda Mazibuko, Yoliswa Miya, Nokuthula Ngcobo, Nithendra Manickchund, Nombulelo Magula, Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Anne Gottberg, Salim S. Abdool Karim, Willem Hanekom, Bernadett I. Gosnell, Richard J. Lessells, Tulio Oliveira, Mahomed-Yunus S. Moosa and Alex Sigal ()
Additional contact information
Khadija Khan: Africa Health Research Institute
Farina Karim: Africa Health Research Institute
Yashica Ganga: Africa Health Research Institute
Mallory Bernstein: Africa Health Research Institute
Zesuliwe Jule: Africa Health Research Institute
Kajal Reedoy: Africa Health Research Institute
Sandile Cele: Africa Health Research Institute
Gila Lustig: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Daniel Amoako: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Nicole Wolter: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Natasha Samsunder: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Aida Sivro: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
James Emmanuel San: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Jennifer Giandhari: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Houriiyah Tegally: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Sureshnee Pillay: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Yeshnee Naidoo: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Matilda Mazibuko: Africa Health Research Institute
Yoliswa Miya: Africa Health Research Institute
Nokuthula Ngcobo: Africa Health Research Institute
Nithendra Manickchund: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Nombulelo Magula: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal
Quarraisha Abdool Karim: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Anne Gottberg: National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service
Salim S. Abdool Karim: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
Willem Hanekom: Africa Health Research Institute
Bernadett I. Gosnell: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Richard J. Lessells: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Tulio Oliveira: KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform
Mahomed-Yunus S. Moosa: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Alex Sigal: Africa Health Research Institute

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages, first detected in South Africa, have changes relative to Omicron BA.1 including substitutions in the spike receptor binding domain. Here we isolated live BA.4 and BA.5 viruses and measured BA.4/BA.5 neutralization elicited by BA.1 infection either in the absence or presence of previous vaccination as well as from vaccination without BA.1 infection. In BA.1-infected unvaccinated individuals, neutralization relative to BA.1 declines 7.6-fold for BA.4 and 7.5-fold for BA.5. In vaccinated individuals with subsequent BA.1 infection, neutralization relative to BA.1 decreases 3.2-fold for BA.4 and 2.6-fold for BA.5. The fold-drop versus ancestral virus neutralization in this group is 4.0-fold for BA.1, 12.9-fold for BA.4, and 10.3-fold for BA.5. In contrast, BA.4/BA.5 escape is similar to BA.1 in the absence of BA.1 elicited immunity: fold-drop relative to ancestral virus neutralization is 19.8-fold for BA.1, 19.6-fold for BA.4, and 20.9-fold for BA.5. These results show considerable escape of BA.4/BA.5 from BA.1 elicited immunity which is moderated with vaccination and may indicate that BA.4/BA.5 may have the strongest selective advantage in evading neutralization relative to BA.1 in unvaccinated, BA.1 infected individuals.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32396-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32396-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32396-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().