Continued evasion of neutralizing antibody response by Omicron XBB.1.16
Julia N. Faraone,
Panke Qu,
Yi-Min Zheng,
Claire Carlin,
Daniel Jones,
Ashish R. Panchal,
Linda J. Saif,
Eugene M. Oltz,
Richard J. Gumina,
Shan-Lu Liu
Affiliations
Julia N. Faraone
Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Panke Qu
Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Yi-Min Zheng
Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Claire Carlin
Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Daniel Jones
Department of Pathology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA
Ashish R. Panchal
Department of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA
Linda J. Saif
Center for Food Animal Health, Animal Sciences Department, OARDC, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA; Veterinary Preventive Medicine Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA; Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Eugene M. Oltz
Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Richard J. Gumina
Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Shan-Lu Liu
Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: The evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to challenge the efficacy of vaccination efforts against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Omicron XBB lineage of SARS-CoV-2 has presented dramatic evasion of neutralizing antibodies stimulated by mRNA vaccination and COVID-19 convalescence. XBB.1.16, characterized by two mutations relative to the dominating variant XBB.1.5, i.e., E180V and K478R, has been on the rise globally. In this study, we compare the immune escape of XBB.1.16 with XBB.1.5, alongside ancestral variants D614G, BA.2, and BA.4/5. We demonstrate that XBB.1.16 is strongly immune evasive, with extent comparable to XBB.1.5 in bivalent-vaccinated healthcare worker sera, 3-dose-vaccinated healthcare worker sera, and BA.4/5-wave convalescent sera. Interestingly, the XBB.1.16 spike is less fusogenic than that of XBB.1.5, and this phenotype requires both E180V and K478R mutations to manifest. Overall, our findings emphasize the importance of the continued surveillance of variants and the need for updated mRNA vaccine formulations.
