The variants of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the challenges of vaccines

Han, Xiucui; Ye, Qing

doi:10.1002/jmv.27513

Cited by 32 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…Vaccines have played a huge role in the fight against COVID‐19, but the problem of vaccine escape has become more acute over time. 13 , 57 , 58 , 59 The first four cases of Omicron infection in Botswana were fully vaccinated, suggesting possible vaccine escape. 60 , 61 In addition, based on 132 three‐dimensional (3D) structures, models of antibody‐RBD complexes show that Omicron may be twice as likely to escape current vaccines than the Delta variant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The emergence and epidemic characteristics of the highly mutated SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant

Tian

Sun

et al. 2022

Journal of Medical Virology

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408

322

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Recently, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first identified in Botswana in November 2021. It was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 24. On November 26, 2021, according to the advice of scientists who are part of the WHO's Technical Advisory Group on SARS‐CoV‐2 Virus Evolution (TAG‐VE), the WHO defined the strain as a variant of concern (VOC) and named it Omicron. Compared to the other four VOCs (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta), the Omicron variant was the most highly mutated strain, with 50 mutations accumulated throughout the genome. The Omicron variant contains at least 32 mutations in the spike protein, which was twice as many as the Delta variant. Studies have shown that carrying many mutations can increase infectivity and immune escape of the Omicron variant compared with the early wild‐type strain and the other four VOCs. The Omicron variant is becoming the dominant strain in many countries worldwide and brings new challenges to preventing and controlling coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). The current review article aims to analyze and summarize information data about the biological characteristics of amino acid mutations, the epidemic characteristics, immune escape, and vaccine reactivity of the Omicron variant, hoping to provide a scientific reference for monitoring, prevention, and vaccine development strategies for the Omicron variant.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vaccines have played a huge role in the fight against COVID‐19, but the problem of vaccine escape has become more acute over time 13,57–59 . The first four cases of Omicron infection in Botswana were fully vaccinated, suggesting possible vaccine escape 60,61 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emergence and epidemic characteristics of the highly mutated SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant

Tian

Sun

et al. 2022

Journal of Medical Virology

Self Cite

408

322

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“…During last year several novel virus variants have been sequenced, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO) identified variants of concern (VOCs), which cause an improved virulence and transmissibility or affect the efficacy of diagnosis, treatment or vaccines [ 26 ]. The most recently described VOC, the so called Omicron, has been first documented in South Africa in November 2021, where it has been responsible for the forth waive of COVID-19.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Worldwide SARS-CoV-2 haplotype distribution in early pandemic

et al. 2022

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The world is experiencing one of the most severe viral outbreaks in the last few years, the pandemic infection by SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 disease. As of December 10th 2021, the virus has spread worldwide, with a total number of more than 267 million of confirmed cases (four times more in the last year), and more than 5 million deaths. A great effort has been undertaken to molecularly characterize the virus, track the spreading of different variants across the globe with the aim to understand the potential effects in terms of transmission capability and different fatality rates. Here we focus on the genomic diversity and distribution of the virus in the early stages of the pandemic, to better characterize the origin of COVID-19 and to define the geographical and temporal evolution of genetic clades. By performing a comparative analysis of 75401 SARS-CoV-2 reported sequences (as of December 2020), using as reference the first viral sequence reported in Wuhan in December 2019, we described the existence of 26538 genetic variants, the most frequent clustering into four major clades characterized by a specific geographical distribution. Notably, we found the most frequent variant, the previously reported missense p.Asp614Gly in the S protein, as a single mutation in only three patients, whereas in the large majority of cases it occurs in concomitance with three other variants, suggesting a high linkage and that this variant alone might not provide a significant selective advantage to the virus. Moreover, we evaluated the presence and the distribution in our dataset of the mutations characterizing the so called “british variant”, identified at the beginning of 2021, and observed that 9 out of 17 are present only in few sequences, but never in linkage with each other, suggesting a synergistic effect in this new viral strain. In summary, this is a large-scale analysis of SARS-CoV-2 deposited sequences, with a particular focus on the geographical and temporal evolution of genetic clades in the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic.

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“… 39 With the constant emergence of new SARS‐CoV‐2 variants carrying the risk of vaccination failure, knowing the kinetics and determinants of infection‐induced adaptive immunity are important, and it is also crucial with respect to a possible outbreak of a completely new coronavirus pandemic. 2 , 40 Anamnestic data seems to have the potential to predict the development of adaptive immunity after COVID‐19 and should not be underestimated, seeing how easy it is to acquire them from patients. The cross‐sectional nature of the study could be considered a limitation, but its effect was eliminated by including the interval between SO and serology testing in the response variable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The kinetics and predictors of anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies up to 8 months after symptomatic COVID‐19: A Czech cross‐sectional study

Štěpánek

Janošíková

Štěpánek

et al. 2022

Journal of Medical Virology

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The presence of neutralizing SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific antibodies indicates protection against (re)infection, however, the knowledge of their long‐term kinetics is limited. This study analyzed the presence of COVID‐19‐induced antibodies in unvaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs) over the period of 1–8 months post symptom onset (SO) and explored the determinants of persisting immunoglobulin (Ig) seropositivity. Six hundred sixty‐two HCWs were interviewed for anamnestic data and tested for IgG targeting the spike protein (S1 and S2) and IgM targeting the receptor‐binding domain. A Cox regression model was used to explore potential predictors of seropositivity with respect to the time lapse between SO and serology testing. 82.9% and 44.7% of HCWs demonstrated IgG and IgM seropositivity, respectively, with a mean interval of 83 days between SARS‐CoV‐2 detection and serology testing. On average, HCWs reported seven symptoms in the acute phase lasting 20 days. IgG seropositivity rates among HCWs decreased gradually to 80%, 50%, and 35% at 3, 6, and 8 months after SO, while IgM seropositivity fell rapidly to 60%, 15%, and 0% over the same time intervals. The number of symptoms was the only predictor of persisting IgG seropositivity (odds ratio [OR] 1.096, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.003–1.199, p = 0.043) and symptom duration a predictor of IgM seropositivity (OR 1.011, 95% CI 1.004–1.017, p = 0.002). Infection‐induced anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG rates drop to a third in seropositive participants over the course of 8 months. Symptom count and duration in the acute phase of COVID‐19 are both relevant to the subsequent kinetics of antibody responses.

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The variants of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the challenges of vaccines

Cited by 32 publications

References 62 publications

The emergence and epidemic characteristics of the highly mutated SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant

The emergence and epidemic characteristics of the highly mutated SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant

Worldwide SARS-CoV-2 haplotype distribution in early pandemic

The kinetics and predictors of anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies up to 8 months after symptomatic COVID‐19: A Czech cross‐sectional study

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