Molecular evolution of SARS‐CoV‐2 from December 2019 to August 2022

Wolf, Jonas Michel; Wolf, Lucas; Bello, Graziele Lima; Maccari, Juçara Gasparetto; Nasi, Luiz Antônio

doi:10.1002/jmv.28366

Cited by 47 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This may be because, as the virus evolved, there were enough mutations in the RBD of XBB.1.5 to completely replace the antigenic sites in the RBD of the ancestral SARS‐CoV‐2, resulting in the low affinity between WT RBD and the antibodies induced by spike‐XBB.1.5. As the current COVID‐19 pandemic is dominated by Omicron variants rather than the original strain, 27 , 28 spike‐XBB.1.5 could be a promising vaccine candidate against the current dominating strains, including XBB.1.5 subvariant that is mainly responsible for the surge in new infections.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A recombinant spike‐XBB.1.5 protein vaccine induces broad‐spectrum immune responses against XBB.1.5‐included Omicron variants of SARS‐CoV‐2

Alu

Hong

et al. 2023

MedComm

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The XBB.1.5 subvariant has drawn great attention owing to its exceptionality in immune evasion and transmissibility. Therefore, it is essential to develop a universally protective coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine against various strains of Omicron, especially XBB.1.5. In this study, we evaluated and compared the immune responses induced by six different spike protein vaccines targeting the ancestral or various Omicron strains of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in mice. We found that spike-wild-type immunization induced high titers of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against ancestral SARS-CoV-2. However, its activity in neutralizing Omicron subvariants decreased sharply as the number of mutations in receptor-binding domain (RBD) of these viruses increased. Spike-BA.5, spike-BF.7, and spike-BQ.1.1 vaccines induced strong NAbs against BA.5, BF.7, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1 viruses but were poor in protecting against XBB and XBB.1.5, which have more RBD mutations. In sharp contrast, spike-XBB.1.5 vaccination can activate strong and broadly protective immune responses against XBB.1.5 and other common subvariants of Omicron. By performing correlation analysis, we found that the NAbs titers were negatively correlated with the number of RBD mutations in the Omicron subvariants. Vaccines with more RBD mutations can effectively overcome the immune resistance caused by the accumulation of RBD mutations, making spike-XBB.1.5 the most promising vaccine candidate against universal Omicron variants.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A recombinant spike‐XBB.1.5 protein vaccine induces broad‐spectrum immune responses against XBB.1.5‐included Omicron variants of SARS‐CoV‐2

Alu

Hong

et al. 2023

MedComm

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“…The request for novel antivirals is continuously increasing, especially owing to the rapid onset of novel viral strains leading to the identification of targets among the cellular proteins involved in cellular defense for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals [ 21 , 144 ]. STING’s central role in innate immunity and the viral-mediated inhibition attracted attention to this protein as a potential cellular target for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unlocking STING as a Therapeutic Antiviral Strategy

Paulis

Tramontano

2023

IJMS

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Invading pathogens have developed weapons that subvert physiological conditions to weaken the host and permit the spread of infection. Cells, on their side, have thus developed countermeasures to maintain cellular physiology and counteract pathogenesis. The cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) synthase (cGAS) is a pattern recognition receptor that recognizes viral DNA present in the cytosol, activating the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) protein and leading to the production of type I interferons (IFN-I). Given its role in innate immunity activation, STING is considered an interesting and innovative target for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals. In this review, we discuss the function of STING; its modulation by the cellular stimuli; the molecular mechanisms developed by viruses, through which they escape this defense system; and the therapeutical strategies that have been developed to date to inhibit viral replication restoring STING functionality.

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“…Despite the progressive trends towards lower fatality, concerns have emerged after the spread of the new and highly mutated lineages belonging to the so-called “Omicron” family, which was first officially identified (i.e., the sublineage BA.1) in November 2021 in South Africa and Botswana, though its real emergence from the former SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain is perhaps antecedent by around 2–3 months [ 4 ]. From the ancestral BA.1 sequence, multiple successive sublineages have then emerged and diverged, which have been mostly classified with the prefix “BA” followed by Arabic numbers (e.g., BA.1, BA.2, and so forth, up to BA.5), until the number of descendants (often the result of multiple recombination between preexisting Omicron sublineages) became so great that even the original classification was challenged, imposing a new formal classification encompassing additional acronyms (e.g., “BQ”, “BF”, “XBB”) [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Simple Epidemiologic Model for Predicting Impaired Neutralization of New SARS-CoV-2 Variants

2023

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This study is aimed at developing a simple epidemiologic model that could help predict the impaired neutralization of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. We explored the potential association between neutralization of recent and more prevalent SARS-CoV-2 sublineages belonging to the Omicron family (i.e., BA.4/5, BA.4.6, BA.2.75.2, BQ.1.1 and XBB.1) expressed as FFRNT50 (>50% suppression of fluorescent foci fluorescent focus reduction neutralization test) in recipients of four doses of monovalent mRNA-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, with epidemiologic variables like emergence date and number of spike protein mutations of these sublineages, cumulative worldwide COVID-19 cases and cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide at the time of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineage emergence. In the univariate analysis, the FFRNT50 value for the different SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages was significantly associated with all such variables except with the number of spike protein mutations. Such associations were confirmed in the multivariate analysis, which enabled the construction of the equation: “−0.3917 × [Emergence (date)] + 1.403 × [COVID-19 cases (million)] − 121.8 × [COVID-19 Vaccine doses (billion)] + 18,250”, predicting the FFRNT50 value of the five SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages with 0.996 accuracy (p = 0.013). We have shown in this work that a simple mathematical approach, encompassing a limited number of widely available epidemiologic variables, such as emergence date of new variants and number of COVID-19 cases and vaccinations, could help identifying the emergence and surge of future lineages with major propensity to impair humoral immunity.

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Molecular evolution of SARS‐CoV‐2 from December 2019 to August 2022

Cited by 47 publications

References 57 publications

A recombinant spike‐XBB.1.5 protein vaccine induces broad‐spectrum immune responses against XBB.1.5‐included Omicron variants of SARS‐CoV‐2

A recombinant spike‐XBB.1.5 protein vaccine induces broad‐spectrum immune responses against XBB.1.5‐included Omicron variants of SARS‐CoV‐2

Unlocking STING as a Therapeutic Antiviral Strategy

A Simple Epidemiologic Model for Predicting Impaired Neutralization of New SARS-CoV-2 Variants

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