Characteristics of replication and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta isolates

The continuously arising of SARS-CoV-2 variants has been posting a great threat to public health safety globally, from B.1.17 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), B.1.617.2 (Delta) to B.1.1.529 (Omicron). The emerging or reemerging of the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern is calling for the constant monitoring of their epidemics, pathogenicity and immune escape. In this study, we aimed to characterize replication and pathogenicity of the Alpha and Delta variant strains isolated from patients infected in Laos. The amino acid mutations within the spike fragment of the isolates were determined via sequencing. The more efficient replication of the Alpha and Delta isolates was documented than the prototyped SARS-CoV-2 in Calu-3 and Caco-2 cells, while such features were not observed in Huh-7, Vero E6 and HPA-3 cells. We utilized both animal models of human ACE2 (hACE2) transgenic mice and hamsters to evaluate the pathogenesis of the isolates. The Alpha and Delta can replicate well in multiple organs and cause moderate to severe lung pathology in these animals. In conclusion, the spike protein of the isolated Alpha and Delta variant strains was characterized, and the replication and pathogenicity of the strains in the cells and animal models were also evaluated.     

Circular RNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants

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Antibody Cocktail Exhibits Broad Neutralization Activity Against SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Virologica Sinica - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has precipitated multiple variants resistant to therapeutic antibodies. In this study, 12 high-affinity antibodies...     

Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern link to increased spike cleavage and virus transmission

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Reduced neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 by vaccine and convalescent serum

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SARS-CoV-2 spike variants exhibit differential infectivity and neutralization resistance to convalescent or post-vaccination sera

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Clinical and immunological features of convalescent pediatric patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Tianjin,China

COVID-19 has spread surprisingly fast worldwide, and new variants continue to emerge. Recently, the World Health Organization acknowledged a new mutant strain “Omicron”, with children were accounting for a growing share of COVID-19 cases compared with other mutant strains. However, the clinical and immunological characteristics of convalescent pediatric patients after Omicron infection were lacking. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the clinical data from pediatric patients with adult patients or healthy children and the effects of SARSCoV-2 vaccine on the clinical and immune characteristics in convalescent pediatric patients. Our results indicated that convalescent pediatric patients had unique clinical and immune characteristics different from those of adult patients or healthy children, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination significantly affected on the clinical and immune characteristics and the prevention of nucleic acid re-detectable positive (RP) in convalescent patients. Our study further deepens the understanding of the impact of Omicron on the long-term health of pediatric patients and provides a valuable reference for the prevention and treatment of children infected with Omicron.     

Cross-variant protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters immunized with monovalent and bivalent inactivated vaccines

Rapid development and successful use of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 might hold the key to curb the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. Emergence of vaccine-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) has posed a new challenge to vaccine design and development. One urgent need is to determine what types of variant-specific and bivalent vaccines should be developed. Here, we compared homotypic and heterotypic protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection of hamsters with monovalent and bivalent whole-virion inactivated vaccines derived from representative VOCs. In addition to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan strain, Delta (B.1.617.2; δ) and Theta (P.3; θ) variants were used in vaccine preparation. Additional VOCs including Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Alpha (B.1.1.7) variants were employed in the challenge experiment. Consistent with previous findings, Omicron variant exhibited the highest degree of immune evasion, rendering all different forms of inactivated vaccines substantially less efficacious. Notably, monovalent and bivalent Delta variant-specific inactivated vaccines provided optimal protection against challenge with Delta variant. Yet, some cross-variant protection against Omicron and Alpha variants was seen with all monovalent and bivalent inactivated vaccines tested. Taken together, our findings support the notion that an optimal next-generation inactivated vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 should contain the predominant VOC in circulation. Further investigations are underway to test whether a bivalent vaccine for Delta and Omicron variants can serve this purpose.     

Neutralization and durability of 2 or 3 doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine against Omicron SARS-CoV-2

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Patients with Prolonged Positivity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Benefit from Convalescent Plasma Therapy: A Retrospective Study

Virologica Sinica - Convalescent plasma therapy has been implemented in a few cases of severe coronavirus disease 2019. No report about convalescent plasma therapy in treating patients with...     

Structure-guided T cell vaccine design for SARS-CoV-2 variants and sarbecoviruses

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Genomic Perspectives on the Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant

A new variant of concern for SARS-CoV-2,Omicron(B.1.1.529),was designated by the World Health Organization on November 26,2021.This study analyzed the viral genome sequencing data of 108 samples collected from patients infected with Omicron.First,we found that the enrichment efficiency of viral nucleic acids was reduced due to mutations in the region where the primers anneal to.Second,the Omicron variant possesses an excessive number of mutations compared to other variants circulating at the sam...     

Structural topological analysis of spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern highlight distinctive amino acid substitution patterns

Since the onset of pandemic in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has diverged into numerous variants driven by antigenic and infectivity-oriented selection. Some variants have accumulated fitness-enhancing mutations, evaded immunity and spread despite global vaccination campaigns. The spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated the greatest immunogenicity and amino acid substitution diversity owing to its importance in the interaction with human angiotensin receptor 2 (hACE2). The S protein consistently emerges as an amino acid substitution (AAS) hotspot in all six lineages, however, in Omicron this enrichment is significantly higher. This study attempts to design and validate a method of mapping S-protein substitution profile across variants to identify the conserved and AAS regions. A substitution matrix was created based on publicly available databases, and the substitution localization was illustrated on a cryo-electron microscopy generated S-protein model. Our analyses indicated that the diversity of N-terminal (NTD) and receptor-binding (RBD) domains exceeded that of any other regions but still contained extended low substitution density regions particularly considering significantly broader substitution profiles of Omicron BA.2 and BA.4/5. Finally, the substitution matrix was compared to a random sample alignment of variant sequences, revealing discrepancies. Therefore, it was suggested to improve matrix accuracy by processing a large number of S-protein sequences using an automated algorithm. Several critical immunogenic and receptor-interacting residues were identified in the conserved regions within NTD and RBD. In conclusion, the structural and topological analysis of S proteins of SARS-CoV-2 variants highlight distinctive amino acid substitution patterns which may be foundational in predicting future variants.     

Dispersal patterns and influence of air travel during the global expansion of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

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SARS-CoV-2中和性纳米抗体的原核表达及中和活性检测

纳米抗体(nanobody,Nb)作为目前已知的能与目标抗原结合的最小单位抗体,在生物医药、临床研究等方面具有良好的应用前景。根据大肠杆菌密码子偏好性优化合成严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2(severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2)中和性纳米抗体H11-D4基因,将其克隆到pET28a表达载体上后,转化至大肠杆菌感受态细胞Rosetta(DE3)进行诱导表达,通过镍柱纯化、质谱分析、Western Blot鉴定H11-D4的表达情况并使用中和试验验证其中和活性。研究结果显示,纳米抗体H11-D4可成功在大肠杆菌中表达,最佳诱导条件为IPTG终浓度1.0 mmol·L^-1,37℃诱导5 h。H11-D4抗体的分子量大小约为17.9 kD,与预测值相符。经镍柱纯化后,产量为25.16 mg·L^-1。透析复性后利用TritonX-114快速有效地去除了内毒素,中和试验成功验证了H11-D4的中和活性(IC50)为171.1 nmol·L^-1,研究结果可为...     

Protective prototype-Beta and Delta-Omicron chimeric RBD-dimer vaccines against SARS-CoV-2

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Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants binding to intermediate horseshoe bat ACE2

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a global pandemic. Intermediate horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus affinis) are hosts of RaTG13, the second most phylogenetically related viruses to SARS-CoV-2. We report the binding between intermediate horseshoe bat ACE2 (bACE2-Ra) and SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD), supporting the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. A 3.3 Å resolution crystal structure of the bACE2-Ra/SARS-CoV-2 RBD complex was determined. The interaction networks of Patch 1 showed differences in R34 and E35 of bACE2-Ra compared to hACE2 and big-eared horseshoe bat ACE2 (bACE2-Rm). The E35K substitution, existing in other species, significantly enhanced the binding affinity owing to its electrostatic attraction with E484 of SARS-CoV-2 RBD. Furthermore, bACE2-Ra showed extensive support for the SARS-CoV-2 variants. These results broaden our knowledge of the ACE2/RBD interaction mechanism and emphasize the importance of continued surveillance of intermediate horseshoe bats to prevent spillover risk.     

Population impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants with enhanced transmissibility and/or partial immune escape

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