Antibody evasion properties of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages

Sho Iketani, Lihong Liu, Yicheng Guo, Liyuan Liu, Jasper F.-W. Chan, Yiming Huang, Maple Wang, Yang Luo, Jian Yu, Hin Chu, Kenn K.-H. Chik, Terrence T.-T. Yuen, Michael T. Yin, Magdalena E. Sobieszczyk, Yaoxing Huang, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Harris H. Wang, Zizhang Sheng and David D. Ho ()
Additional contact information
Sho Iketani: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Lihong Liu: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Yicheng Guo: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Liyuan Liu: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Jasper F.-W. Chan: University of Hong Kong
Yiming Huang: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Maple Wang: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Yang Luo: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Jian Yu: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Hin Chu: University of Hong Kong
Kenn K.-H. Chik: University of Hong Kong
Terrence T.-T. Yuen: University of Hong Kong
Michael T. Yin: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Magdalena E. Sobieszczyk: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Yaoxing Huang: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Kwok-Yung Yuen: University of Hong Kong
Harris H. Wang: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Zizhang Sheng: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
David D. Ho: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Nature, 2022, vol. 604, issue 7906, 553-556

Abstract: Abstract The identification of the Omicron (B.1.1.529.1 or BA.1) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Botswana in November 20211 immediately caused concern owing to the number of alterations in the spike glycoprotein that could lead to antibody evasion. We2 and others3–6 recently reported results confirming such a concern. Continuing surveillance of the evolution of Omicron has since revealed the rise in prevalence of two sublineages, BA.1 with an R346K alteration (BA.1+R346K, also known as BA.1.1) and B.1.1.529.2 (BA.2), with the latter containing 8 unique spike alterations and lacking 13 spike alterations found in BA.1. Here we extended our studies to include antigenic characterization of these new sublineages. Polyclonal sera from patients infected by wild-type SARS-CoV-2 or recipients of current mRNA vaccines showed a substantial loss in neutralizing activity against both BA.1+R346K and BA.2, with drops comparable to that already reported for BA.1 (refs. 2,3,5,6). These findings indicate that these three sublineages of Omicron are antigenically equidistant from the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and thus similarly threaten the efficacies of current vaccines. BA.2 also exhibited marked resistance to 17 of 19 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies tested, including S309 (sotrovimab)7, which had retained appreciable activity against BA.1 and BA.1+R346K (refs. 2–4,6). This finding shows that no authorized monoclonal antibody therapy could adequately cover all sublineages of the Omicron variant, except for the recently authorized LY-CoV1404 (bebtelovimab).

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04594-4

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