The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, first identified in Botswana and South Africa, may compromise vaccine effectiveness and the ability of antibodies triggered by previous infection to protect against re-infection (1). Here we investigated whether Omicron escapes antibody neutralization in South Africans, either previously SARS-CoV-2 infected or uninfected, who were vaccinated with Pfizer BNT162b2. We also investigated if Omicron requires the ACE2 receptor to infect cells. We isolated and sequence confirmed live Omicron virus from an infected person in South Africa and compared plasma neutralization of this virus relative to an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain with the D614G mutation, observing that Omicron still required ACE2 to infect. For neutralization, blood samples were taken soon after vaccination, so that vaccine elicited neutralization was close to peak. Neutralization capacity of the D614G virus was much higher in infected and vaccinated versus vaccinated only participants but both groups had 22-fold Omicron escape from vaccine elicited neutralization. Previously infected and vaccinated individuals had residual neutralization predicted to confer 73% protection from symptomatic Omicron infection, while those without previous infection were predicted to retain only about 35%. Both groups were predicted to have substantial protection from severe disease. These data support the notion that high neutralization capacity elicited by a combination of infection and vaccination, and possibly boosting, could maintain reasonable effectiveness against Omicron. A waning neutralization response is likely to decrease vaccine effectiveness below these estimates. However, since protection from severe disease requires lower neutralization levels and involves T cell immunity, such protection may be maintained.
Characterizing SARS-CoV-2 evolution in specific geographies may help predict the properties of variants coming from these regions. We mapped neutralization of a SARS-CoV-2 strain that evolved over 6 months from the ancestral virus in a person with advanced HIV disease. Infection was before the emergence of the Beta variant first identified in South Africa, and the Delta variant. We compared early and late evolved virus to the ancestral, Beta, Alpha, and Delta viruses and tested against convalescent plasma from ancestral, Beta, and Delta infections. Early virus was similar to ancestral, whereas late virus was similar to Beta, exhibiting vaccine escape and, despite pre-dating Delta, strong escape of Delta-elicited neutralization. This example is consistent with the notion that variants arising in immune-compromised hosts, including those with advanced HIV disease, may evolve immune escape of vaccines and enhanced escape of Delta immunity, with implications for vaccine breakthrough and reinfections. HighlightsO_LIA prolonged ancestral SARS-CoV-2 infection pre-dating the emergence of Beta and Delta resulted in evolution of a Beta-like serological phenotype C_LIO_LISerological phenotype includes strong escape from Delta infection elicited immunity, intermediate escape from ancestral virus immunity, and weak escape from Beta immunity C_LIO_LIEvolved virus showed substantial but incomplete escape from antibodies elicited by BNT162b2 vaccination C_LI Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=110 SRC="FIGDIR/small/21263564v2_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (18K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1194bfdorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1cbe318org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@aa74f8org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@e57969_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG
Viruses increase the efficiency of close-range transmission between cells by manipulating cellular physiology and behavior, and SARS-CoV-2 uses cell fusion as one mechanism for cell-to-cell spread. Here we visualized infection using time-lapse microscopy of a human lung cell line and used live virus neutralization to determine the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 cell-to-cell spread to neutralizing antibodies. SARS-CoV-2 infection rapidly led to cell fusion, forming multinucleated cells with clustered nuclei which started to be detected at 6h post-infection. To compare sensitivity of cell-to-cell spread to neutralization, we infected either with cell-free virus or with single infected cells expressing on their surface the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We tested two variants of SARS-CoV-2: B.1.117 containing only the D614G substitution, and the escape variant B.1.351. We used the much smaller area of single infected cells relative to infection foci to exclude any input infected cells which did not lead to transmission. The monoclonal antibody and convalescent plasma we tested neutralized cell-free SARS-CoV-2, with the exception of B.1.351 virus, which was poorly neutralized with plasma from non-B.1.351 infections. In contrast, cell-to-cell spread of SARS-CoV-2 showed no sensitivity to monoclonal antibody or convalescent plasma neutralization. These observations suggest that, once cells are infected, SARS-CoV-2 may be more difficult to neutralize in cell types and anatomical compartments permissive for cell-to-cell spread.
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) have arisen independently at multiple locations and may reduce efficacy of current vaccines targeted at the spike glycoprotein. We re-cently described the emergence of VOC in South Africa (501Y.V2 or PANGO lineage B.1.351) with mutations in the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) and N-terminal domain (NTD). Here, using a live virus neutralization assay (LVNA), we compared neutralization of a first wave virus (B.1.1.117) versus the 501Y.V2 variant using plasma collected from adults hospitalized with COVID-19 from two South African infection waves, with the second wave dominated by 501Y.V2 infections. Sequencing demonstrated that infections in first wave plasma donors were with viruses harbouring none of the 501Y.V2-defining RBD or NTD mutations, except for one with E484K. 501Y.V2 virus was effectively neutralized by plasma from second wave infections and first wave virus was effectively neutralized by first wave plasma. In cross-neutralization, 501Y.V2 virus was poorly neutralized by first wave plasma, with an 8.4-fold drop in neutralization relative to first wave virus and a 15.1-fold drop relative to 501Y.V2 neutralization by second wave plasma. In contrast, second wave plasma neutralization of first wave virus was more effective, showing 4.1-fold decline relative to 501Y.V2 virus neutralization and 2.3-fold decline relative to first wave plasma neutralization. While we only tested one plasma elicited by E484K alone, this potently neutralized both variants. The observed effective neutralization of first wave virus by 501Y.V2 infection elicited plasma provides preliminary evidence that vaccines based on VOC sequences could retain activity against other circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages.
There are conflicting reports on the effects of HIV on COVID-19. Here we analyzed disease severity and immune cell changes during and after SARS-CoV-2 infection in 236 participants from South Africa, of which 39% were people living with HIV (PLWH), during the first and second ({beta} dominated) infection waves. The second wave had more PLWH requiring supplemental oxygen relative to HIV negative participants. Higher disease severity was associated with low CD4 T cell counts and higher neutrophil to lymphocyte ratios (NLR). Yet, CD4 counts recovered and NLR stabilized after SARS-CoV-2 clearance in wave 2 infected PLWH, arguing for an interaction between SARS-CoV-2 and HIV infection leading to low CD4 and high NLR. The first infection wave, where severity in HIV negative and PLWH was similar, still showed some HIV modulation of SARS-CoV-2 immune responses. Therefore, HIV infection can synergize with the SARS-CoV-2 variant to change COVID-19 outcomes.
