Immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccine boosters against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant BA.5 in male Syrian hamsters

Rafael R. G. Machado, Jordyn L. Walker, Dionna Scharton, Grace H. Rafael, Brooke M. Mitchell, Rachel A. Reyna, William M. Souza, Jianying Liu, David H. Walker, Jessica A. Plante, Kenneth S. Plante () and Scott C. Weaver ()
Additional contact information
Rafael R. G. Machado: University of Texas Medical Branch
Jordyn L. Walker: University of Texas Medical Branch
Dionna Scharton: University of Texas Medical Branch
Grace H. Rafael: University of Texas Medical Branch
Brooke M. Mitchell: University of Texas Medical Branch
Rachel A. Reyna: University of Texas Medical Branch
William M. Souza: University of Texas Medical Branch
Jianying Liu: University of Texas Medical Branch
David H. Walker: University of Texas Medical Branch
Jessica A. Plante: University of Texas Medical Branch
Kenneth S. Plante: University of Texas Medical Branch
Scott C. Weaver: University of Texas Medical Branch

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant BA.5 rapidly spread worldwide and replaced BA.1/BA.2 in many countries, becoming globally dominant. BA.5 has unique amino acid substitutions in the spike protein that both mediate immune escape from neutralizing antibodies produced by immunizations and increase ACE2 receptor binding affinity. In a comprehensive, long-term (up to 9 months post primary vaccination), experimental vaccination study using male Syrian hamsters, we evaluate neutralizing antibody responses and efficacy against BA.5 challenge after primary vaccination with Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen) or BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) followed by a homologous or heterologous booster with mRNA-1273 (Moderna) or NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax). Notably, one high or low dose of Ad26.COV2.S provides more durable immunity than two primary doses of BNT162b2, and the NVX-CoV2373 booster provides the strongest augmentation of immunity, reduction in BA.5 viral replication, and disease. Our data demonstrate the immunogenicity and efficacy of different prime/boost vaccine regimens against BA.5 infection in an immune-competent model and provide new insights regarding COVID-19 vaccine strategies.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40033-2 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:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40033-2

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40033-2

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 ().