Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Limited cross-variant immunity from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron without vaccination

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [2];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5] more »;  [6];  [6];  [7];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [1];  [2];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [8];  [8];  [8];  [2];  [5];  [6];  [2];  [9];  [10];  [11] « less
  1. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  2. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States); University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  3. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States); UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center (VDDC), San Francisco, CA (United States)
  4. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  6. Curative Inc., San Dimas, CA (United States)
  7. University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  8. California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA (United States)
  9. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center (VDDC), San Francisco, CA (United States); Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  10. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  11. Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA (United States); University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron are globally relevant variants of concern. Although individuals infected with Delta are at risk of developing severe lung disease, infection with Omicron often causes milder symptoms, especially in vaccinated individuals. The question arises of whether widespread Omicron infections could lead to future cross-variant protection, accelerating the end of the pandemic. Here we show that without vaccination, infection with Omicron induces a limited humoral immune response in mice and humans. Sera from mice overexpressing the human ACE2 receptor and infected with Omicron neutralize only Omicron, but not other variants of concern, whereas broader cross-variant neutralization was observed after WA1 and Delta infections. Unlike WA1 and Delta, Omicron replicates to low levels in the lungs and brains of infected animals, leading to mild disease with reduced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and diminished activation of lung-resident T cells. Sera from individuals who were unvaccinated and infected with Omicron show the same limited neutralization of only Omicron itself. By contrast, Omicron breakthrough infections induce overall higher neutralization titres against all variants of concern. Our results demonstrate that Omicron infection enhances pre-existing immunity elicited by vaccines but, on its own, may not confer broad protection against non-Omicron variants in unvaccinated individuals.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Fast Grants; National Institutes of Health (NIH); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2470778
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7918 Vol. 607; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (24)

Reduced neutralisation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron B.1.1.529 variant by post-immunisation serum journal January 2022
Early assessment of the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in South Africa: a data linkage study journal January 2022
The omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern does not readily infect Syrian hamsters journal February 2022
The Omicron variant is highly resistant against antibody-mediated neutralization: Implications for control of the COVID-19 pandemic journal February 2022
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-B.1.1.529 leads to widespread escape from neutralizing antibody responses journal February 2022
The cytokine storm in COVID-19: An overview of the involvement of the chemokine/chemokine-receptor system journal June 2020
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants expand species tropism to murines journal November 2021
Vaccination-infection interval determines cross-neutralization potency to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron after breakthrough infection by other variants journal April 2022
Reduced pathogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in hamsters journal April 2022
Milder disease with Omicron: is it the virus or the pre-existing immunity? journal January 2022
SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity in cases of COVID-19 and SARS, and uninfected controls journal July 2020
Omicron escapes the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies journal December 2021
Considerable escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron to antibody neutralization journal December 2021
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus causes attenuated disease in mice and hamsters journal January 2022
Attenuated replication and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron journal January 2022
Attenuated fusogenicity and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant journal February 2022
Altered TMPRSS2 usage by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron impacts infectivity and fusogenicity journal February 2022
SARS-CoV-2 infection of human ACE2-transgenic mice causes severe lung inflammation and impaired function journal August 2020
An infectious SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus escapes neutralization by therapeutic monoclonal antibodies journal January 2022
Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of Omicron in South Africa journal May 2022
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: Antibody evasion and cryo-EM structure of spike protein–ACE2 complex journal February 2022
Long‐term expanding human airway organoids for disease modeling journal January 2019
Epidemiological characterisation of the first 785 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant cases in Denmark, December 2021 journal December 2021
mRNA vaccine-induced T cells respond identically to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern but differ in longevity and homing properties depending on prior infection status journal October 2021

Similar Records

Omicron mutations enhance infectivity and reduce antibody neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles
Journal Article · Mon Jul 18 20:00:00 EDT 2022 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · OSTI ID:2470957
Previous exposure to Spike-providing parental strains confers neutralizing immunity to XBB lineage and other SARS-CoV-2 recombinants in the context of vaccination
Journal Article · Mon Oct 30 20:00:00 EDT 2023 · Emerging Microbes & Infections · OSTI ID:2470848
Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron immune evasion and receptor engagement
Journal Article · Mon Jan 24 19:00:00 EST 2022 · Science · OSTI ID:1891296

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
Immunology