RESUMEN
Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has developed substantial antigenic variability. As the majority of the population now has pre-existing immunity due to infection or vaccination, the use of experimentally generated animal immune sera can be valuable for measuring antigenic differences between virus variants. Here, we immunized Syrian hamsters by two successive infections with one of nine SARS-CoV-2 variants. Their sera were titrated against 16 SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the resulting titers were visualized using antigenic cartography. The antigenic map shows a condensed cluster containing all pre-Omicron variants (D614G, Alpha, Delta, Beta, Mu, and an engineered B.1+E484K variant) and considerably more diversity among a selected panel of Omicron subvariants (BA.1, BA.2, BA.4/BA.5, the BA.5 descendants BF.7 and BQ.1.18, the BA.2.75 descendant BN.1.3.1, the BA.2-derived recombinants XBB.2 and EG.5.1, and the BA.2.86 descendant JN.1). Some Omicron subvariants were as antigenically distinct from each other as the wildtype is from the Omicron BA.1 variant. Compared to titers measured in human sera, titers in hamster sera are of higher magnitude, show less fold change, and result in a more compact antigenic map topology. The results highlight the potential of sera from hamsters for the continued antigenic characterization of SARS-CoV-2.
Asunto(s)
Variación Antigénica , COVID-19 , Mesocricetus , SARS-CoV-2 , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus , Animales , SARS-CoV-2/inmunología , SARS-CoV-2/genética , COVID-19/inmunología , COVID-19/virología , Cricetinae , Variación Antigénica/inmunología , Variación Antigénica/genética , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus/inmunología , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus/genética , Antígenos Virales/inmunología , Antígenos Virales/genética , Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , Anticuerpos Antivirales/inmunología , Humanos , Sueros Inmunes/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Variant BA.2.86 and its descendant, JN.1, of SARS-CoV-2 are rising in incidence across Europe and globally. We isolated recent JN.1, BA.2.86, EG.5, XBB.1.5 and earlier variants. We tested live virus neutralisation of sera taken in September 2023 from vaccinated and exposed healthy persons (n = 39). We found clear neutralisation escape against recent variants but no specific pronounced escape for BA.2.86 or JN.1. Neutralisation escape corresponds to recent variant predominance but may not be causative of the recent upsurge in JN.1 incidence.